Knowledge and attitudes of primary care nurses about the management of patients with insomnia

To describe the knowledge, attitudes, and performance of primary care nurses in the management of patients with insomnia.

Descriptive study. An online questionnaire was sent to all primary care nurses of the Majorca Primary Care Department between June-July 2014.

sociodemographic variables, professional characteristics, tuition, usual clinical practice in the management of patients with insomnia.

138 nurses answered the questionnaire (47%). Most of them were women (92.8%), 50.42 years old (DE=8.9). The majority considered insomnia an important health problem. Only 11% had received some formative activity on insomnia in the last 5 years. Nearly half declares to ask patients about consequences of insomnia in their jobs and about habits that alter their sleep quality. 79.7% considered the possible adverse effects of insomnia drugs and take into consideration the age of patient (80.4%). The usual treatments were sleep hygiene (76%), phytotherapy (44.9%) and 22.4% cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This therapy is considered effective and applicable by nurses (63.7%) and doctors (58%). Those nurses who attended courses in the last 5 years apply CBT more frequently.

Nurses conduct a correct anamnesis and evaluation of patients with insomnia. However some therapies of known effectiveness, such as CBT, are still scarcely applied.