Critical care nurses’ practices and attitudes toward patients suffering from delirium

English abstract By: Mohammed Adel Ghoneam Introduction: Delirium is common and is often a harbinger of death especially in ICU patients. It is a sudden change in mental status, with fluctuating course, marked by decreased attention .It is caused by underlying medical problems, drug intoxication/withdrawal. Aims: Identify Critical care nurses’ practices and attitudes towards patients suffering from delirium.Materials and Methods: A descriptive design was followed in this study. The study was conducted in the critical care units of Alexandria Main University Hospital and intensive care units of Beni-Suef Main university hospital. Tool I: Delirium critical care nurses’ practices observational. Tool II: Critical Care Nurses’ attitudes toward patients suffering from delirium Structured Interview Schedule. Results: The vast majority of nurses had poor total practice score. Seventy four percent of nurses had afair total attitude .Recommendation:Assess relationship between sleep deprivation and incidence of delirium. Facilitating open visitation in the adult intensive care environment to allow flexibility for patients and families.