Perceptions of Bedside Cardiac Critical Care Registered Nurses on 24 Hour Attending Intensivist Coverage

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Nursing Education
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Continuous in-house attending physician coverage is a staffing model in intensive care units.
• Understanding nurses' perceptions of this model is crucial for optimizing care delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess bedside critical care nurses' views on 24-hour in-house attending physician coverage.
• To determine the impact of this model on patient safety, communication, and nursing education.

Main Methods:

• A Likert-type questionnaire was administered to 46 nurses in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU).
• Nurses were divided into two groups based on prior exposure to the staffing model (new 24/7 coverage vs. old on-demand system).

Main Results:

• Nurses reported positive impacts on nursing education and communication (multidisciplinary teams and families) with median scores of 5.
• Nurses with experience in both systems rated the impact on patient outcomes higher (median 5) than those with only new system exposure (median 4).
• 83-98% of nurses agreed or strongly agreed on the benefits of 24-hour in-house attending coverage.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric cardiac nurses believe on-site intensivists enhance both nursing practice and patient care.
• The implementation of 24-hour in-house attending coverage is perceived positively by bedside nurses.