Nursing Knowledge and Practices Regarding Delirium as an Under-Recognized Syndrome in Intensive Care Units (ICU psychosis)

Abstract

Background: Delirium is an acute and fluctuating change in mental status that characterized by marked disturbance of attention, with associated deficits in memory and orientation, disorganized thinking, perceptual disturbance, anxiety, sleep problems, agitation and motor unrest. The aim of this study was to assess the nurses' knowledge and practices regarding to delirium of critically ill patients in ICU. Design: A descriptive design was used. Subjects: A sample of convenience 64 critical care nurses who were currently available at morning shifts working was recruited for this study. Tool: Delirium awareness and practice in ICUs Questionnaire to measure healthcare professionals' awareness and practice related to delirium in the ICU. Results: The results revealed that lower significant knowledge score was observed for nurses who were not mentioned the definition of delirium and only one nurse attended training course/lecture about delirium within last year (1.6%), while 98.4% did not attend any training courses/ lecture about delirium last year. Conclusion: Based on this result, it was concluded that delirium was a problem that requires active interventions from the health care providers and it is under-diagnosed syndrome. Recommendations: Condensed training required to optimally manage the condition of delirium is needed for earlier intervention and greater interdisciplinary collaboration and more involvement of psychiatric services are needed.