Nurses' knowledge-attitude-practice status on early enteral nutrition of critically ill patients in Class III Grade A hospitals

Objective To explore the current status of nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice in Class Ⅲ Grade A hospitals on early enteral nutrition in critically ill patients. Methods A total of 114 nurses in a Class Ⅲ Grade A hospital in Beijing were selected by convenience sampling method on March of 2019. Self-designed Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Questionnaire on Early Enteral Nutrition in Critically Ill Patients was used to investigate the nurses, and the contents included their general information and their related knowledge, attitude, practice towards the critically ill patient's early enteral nutrition. Results Nurses scored 5.00-85.00 points on Nurses' Knowledge Questionnaire on Early Enteral Nutrition in Critically Ill Patients, with a median of 35.00 points; Attitude Questionnaire scored 0.00-80.00 points, with a median of 80.00 points; Practice Questionnaire scored (51.49±13.18) points, ranging from 13.33 to 83.33 points; 27.19% of nurses had never received relevant knowledge training. Conclusions Nurses should have comprehensive knowledge of early enteral nutrition for severely ill patient to enable patients receive more effective enteral nutrition support, pay attention to the clinical application of pyloric retroperitoneal feeding technology, integrate dynamic nutrition screening and intra-abdominal pressure measurement into routine nursing work, and find out the exist problems of early enteral nutrition in severely ill patients in time, improve the quality of holistic nursing, so that severely ill patients can get the most effective enteral nutrition support. Key words: Intensive Care Unit; Early enteral nutrition; Nurses; Knowledge, attitude, practice