A Study of Knowledge and Recognition on Postoperative Delirium Among Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Nurses

Postoperative delirium (POD) is a syndrome that often occurs after surgery. Nursing staff are the first-line personnel who have the most time and close contact with postoperative patients. If delirium is not recognized immediately, it will affect the patient's prognosis and increase clinical care requirements and health care costs. This study explores postanesthesia care unit (PACU) nursing staff's knowledge and ability to recognize POD in patients.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with purposive sampling to recruit nurses from hospital PACUs in central and southern Taiwan. Data were collected from April to December 2019 using a questionnaire survey on knowledge of POD and videos to test delirium recognition abilities.

A total of 178 nurses from 9 hospitals met the inclusion criteria for participation; 2 participants were unable to attend because of taking leave, resulting in 176 valid questionnaires.

The percentage of correct answers for POD knowledge was 63.84%, and for recognizing POD was 59.1%, both at a moderate level. Nurses' advanced skills significantly influenced their POD knowledge and recognition abilities. There was a positive correlation between PACU nurses' POD knowledge and recognition abilities (r = 0.23, P < .01).

PACU nurses demonstrated a moderate level of knowledge and ability to recognize POD in patients. Those with higher-level nursing skills showed better POD knowledge and recognition abilities. Nurses with better POD knowledge exhibited higher recognition abilities.