Introduction Delirium is the most common emergency for older hospitalized patients that demands u... more Introduction Delirium is the most common emergency for older hospitalized patients that demands urgent treatment, otherwise it can lead to more severe health conditions. Nurses play a crucial part in diagnosing delirium and their competencies facilitate the appropriate treatment and management of the condition. Aim This study aims to enhance the understanding of delirium care by exploring both knowledge and attitudes of nurses toward patients in acute care hospital wards and the possible association between these two variables. Method The Nurses Knowledge of Delirium Questionnaire (NKD) and the Attitude Tool of Delirium (ATOD) that were created for the said inquiry, were disseminated to 835 nurses in the four largest Public Hospitals of the Republic. These tools focused particularly on departments with increased frequency of delirium (response rate = 67%). Results Overall nurses have limited knowledge of acute confusion/delirium. The average of correct answers was 42.2%. Only 38% of the participants reported a correct definition of delirium, 41.6 correctly reported the tools to identify delirium and 42.5 answered correctly on the factors leading to delirium development. The results of the attitudes' questionnaire confirmed that attitudes towards patients with delirium may not be supportive enough. A correlation between the level of nurses' knowledge and their attitude was also found. The main factors influencing the level of knowledge and attitudes were gender, education, and workplace.
Background and PurposeThe prevalence of delirium during hospitalization is high in older patients... more Background and PurposeThe prevalence of delirium during hospitalization is high in older patients and there is evidence of staff regarding them as unpopular or a burden. This study aims to develop an instrument examining nurses' attitudes toward patients with delirium.MethodsStages included (a) content identification, (b) content development, (c) content critique, (e) pilot study with a test–retest reliability, (f) field study consisting of psychometric testing of the internal consistency and construct validity.ResultsThe Cronbach's alpha was 0.89 and the stability reliability was acceptable. The factor analysis resulted in three factors explaining a total of 56.5% of the variance. hese factors are “beliefs,” “behavior,” and “emotions,” explaining 37.025%, 12.792%, and 5.652% of variance.ConclusionsThe Attitude Tool of Delirium (ATOD) is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of attitudes toward delirium.
Introduction Delirium is the most common emergency for older hospitalized patients that demands u... more Introduction Delirium is the most common emergency for older hospitalized patients that demands urgent treatment, otherwise it can lead to more severe health conditions. Nurses play a crucial part in diagnosing delirium and their competencies facilitate the appropriate treatment and management of the condition. Aim This study aims to enhance the understanding of delirium care by exploring both knowledge and attitudes of nurses toward patients in acute care hospital wards and the possible association between these two variables. Method The Nurses Knowledge of Delirium Questionnaire (NKD) and the Attitude Tool of Delirium (ATOD) that were created for the said inquiry, were disseminated to 835 nurses in the four largest Public Hospitals of the Republic. These tools focused particularly on departments with increased frequency of delirium (response rate = 67%). Results Overall nurses have limited knowledge of acute confusion/delirium. The average of correct answers was 42.2%. Only 38% of the participants reported a correct definition of delirium, 41.6 correctly reported the tools to identify delirium and 42.5 answered correctly on the factors leading to delirium development. The results of the attitudes' questionnaire confirmed that attitudes towards patients with delirium may not be supportive enough. A correlation between the level of nurses' knowledge and their attitude was also found. The main factors influencing the level of knowledge and attitudes were gender, education, and workplace.
Background and PurposeThe prevalence of delirium during hospitalization is high in older patients... more Background and PurposeThe prevalence of delirium during hospitalization is high in older patients and there is evidence of staff regarding them as unpopular or a burden. This study aims to develop an instrument examining nurses' attitudes toward patients with delirium.MethodsStages included (a) content identification, (b) content development, (c) content critique, (e) pilot study with a test–retest reliability, (f) field study consisting of psychometric testing of the internal consistency and construct validity.ResultsThe Cronbach's alpha was 0.89 and the stability reliability was acceptable. The factor analysis resulted in three factors explaining a total of 56.5% of the variance. hese factors are “beliefs,” “behavior,” and “emotions,” explaining 37.025%, 12.792%, and 5.652% of variance.ConclusionsThe Attitude Tool of Delirium (ATOD) is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of attitudes toward delirium.
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