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

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ass. Prof. of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department , Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University, Egypt

2 Lecturer of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt

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.

Keywords

Egyptian Journal of Health Care
Volume 12, Issue 1
March 2021
Pages 904-920

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