Investigating critical care nurses' perception regarding enteral nutrition

Abstract

Background: Evidences showed that nurses lack the needed knowledge to administer nutritional care. Besides, nutritional information was found to be incomplete in patients' record, and nurses' responsibilities regarding EN were not well understood. In Jordan, literature regarding nurses' perceptions of EN is scarce. Aim: To investigate critical care nurses' perceptions regarding enteral nutrition (EN) of critically-ill adult patients. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, comparative design was used to collect data from 151 Jordanian critical care nurses utilizing the Nurses' Perception of Enteral Nutrition Questionnaire. Results: Nurses in private hospitals scored the highest in regard to responsibility and support from documentation. Education, internet, and nursing school were the primary sources of EN knowledge. Besides, female nurses differ significantly from male nurses in regard to the perception of responsibility of EN. Conclusion: Awareness of responsibility, supportive documentation system, and implementation of the current evidences of EN in the actual daily practices can be used to improve EN practices.