Pediatric Delirium Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit

Background: Pediatric delirium, seen in critically ill children in intensive care units (ICUs), increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Although delirium is common in critically ill children, only 2% of ICUs screen for delirium.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the ICU nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward delirium.

Methods: This descriptive study was carried out with 80 nurses working in 6 tertiary ICUs in Türkiye between November 2019 and February 2020. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews method by the Sociodemographic Data Form and Pediatric Delirium Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire. Data were analyzed with Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Spearman correlation analysis.

Results: The majority of the nurses have moderate knowledge about pediatric delirium and are not aware of the screening procedure and instruments for delirium. The majority of the nurses routinely did not screen their patients with delirium and did not know the screening instruments (97.6%) available for delirium. The knowledge mean score and positive attitude of nurses were significantly correlated with nurses’ departments and their education level
of nursing (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed that nurses working in ICU had moderate knowledge of pediatric delirium, especially its definition, causes, and management. In order to detect pediatric delirium in the early period and manage it properly, it is recommended that training pro-grams be arranged for intensive care nurses. Furthermore, pediatric delirium assessment form with proven validity and reliability in ICUs should be used and evidence-based care guidelines should be created.