What Do Pediatric Intensive Care Nurses Know About Pediatric Delirium?

Pediatric delirium is a significant disorder which affects a child's psychomotor activity, sleep, emotions, perception, attention, and consciousness. It is commonly observed in pediatric intensive care units.

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, monitoring, and assessment practices related to delirium among nurses working in pediatric intensive care units.

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between January 30, 2022, and April 15, 2024, with 71 nurses working in public hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected using an online survey method with a "Descriptive Information Form" and a "Pediatric Delirium Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire."

The majority of nurses had not received training on delirium (80.3%) and did not assess delirium in their clinical practice (88.3%). In all, 85.9% considered urinary catheters, 73.2% considered mechanical ventilators, and 53.5% considered congenital heart disease not to be risk factors for delirium. The majority believed that delirium is always hyperactive (90.1%), lasts for a few hours (77.5%), and that changes in the sleep-wake cycle are not a sign of delirium (50.7%). They thought that some nursing interventions that could be used to prevent delirium; such as wearing glasses (54.9%), early mobilization (77.5%), regularly assessing pain (54.9%), and not leaving the lights on for 24 hours.

This study has revealed that nurses working in pediatric intensive care units in central Türkiye have significant knowledge gaps regarding the risk factors, symptoms, and management of delirium. It is recommended to organize training programs for intensive care nurses to facilitate the early detection and proper management of pediatric delirium, use validated and reliable pediatric delirium assessment tools in pediatric intensive care units, and develop evidence-based care guidelines.