Crucial information needs of ICU charge nurses in Finland and Greece

To describe crucial information needs of ICU charge nurses, and to compare these needs in two countries in Europe.

ICU charge nurses are on the front line for ensuring that the activities of their units are running smoothly. They are accountable for making sure that the right tasks are performed under the right circumstances, with the right people, at the right time.

An online survey based on a previous observation study regarding the ad hoc decision-making of ICU shift leaders. A total of 257 Finnish and 50 Greek ICU charge nurses participated in this study, from 17 Finnish and 16 Greece ICUs for adults.

Our survey incorporated 122 statements divided into six dimensions (patient admission, organization and management of work, allocation of staff, allocation of material, special treatments and patient discharge) with a rating scale from 0 to 10. Analysis involved descriptive statistics. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the answers of the two countries. Validity was verified with confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability was tested with Cronbach's α values.

The most crucial information needs of ICU charge nurses concerned the overall organization and management of work. Both staff-related and individual patient-related information was needed. Information needs of Finnish and Greek charge nurses concerned similar kinds of situations in ICUs. However, there were some differences that might depend on the cultural differences between the countries.

Accurate and real-time information is a prerequisite for ICU charge nurses' ad hoc decision-making during daily care management. Identification of the most crucial information is needed when tools for information management are developed.

The results of this study indicated that a major portion of immediate information needs of ICU charge nurses are internationally common in similar settings.