Exploring heterogeneity in ICU nurses' perceived intrahospital transport safety: a latent profile analysis

Intrahospital transport (IHT) of critically ill patients is a high-risk process in intensive care units (ICUs), with nurses playing a pivotal role in ensuring patient safety throughout transport. Despite the critical importance of nurses' contributions to safe IHT, little is known about the heterogeneity of ICU nurses' perceptions of IHT safety. Therefore, this study aimed to identify latent profiles of perceived IHT safety among ICU nurses and to examine the sociodemographic, professional, and IHT-related factors associated with profile membership.

A cross-sectional, exploratory study.

A total of 653 ICU nurses from 10 tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province, China, completed the Chinese version of the Intrahospital Transport Safety Scale (IHTSS) and a structured questionnaire. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to identify latent profiles of perceived IHT safety. Multinomial logistic regression was subsequently used to examine sociodemographic, professional, and IHT-related factors associated with profile membership.

Three latent profiles of perceived IHT safety were identified: low (19.4%), moderate (57.3%), and high (23.3%) perceived IHT safety. The profiles differed mainly in overall levels of perceived IHT safety rather than in dimension-specific patterns. Non-use of an IHT checklist was associated with increased odds of membership in both the low-profile (OR = 4.08, 95% CI: 2.17-7.67) and moderate-profile groups (OR = 2.29, 95% CI: 1.32-3.96), compared with the high-profile group. Conversely, greater confidence in performing IHT-related tasks was associated with reduced odds of membership in the low-profile (OR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.49-0.70) and moderate-profile groups (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.61-0.84).

ICU nurses exhibited ordered heterogeneity in perceived IHT safety. Non-use of an IHT checklist and lower confidence in IHT-related tasks were associated with lower perceived safety. These findings may inform organisational assessment and targeted education, although causality cannot be established and objective transport risk was not assessed.