A qualitative study on experience of nurses caring for patients with delirium in ICUs in China: Barriers, burdens and decision making dilemmas

PurposeThe purpose was to explore the experiences of nurses caring for patients with delirium in ICU in China.MethodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 ICU nurses in Beijing, China. Audio recordings of the transcripts were coded and analysed thematically.ResultsThe emergent themes reflected clearly similar experiences and were titled as follows: Internal and external barriers to care; Care burden: workload, psychological pressure and injury; Dilemmas in decision-making: balancing risks and benefits.ConclusionsThe results of this qualitative study have provided a rich description of the perceptions of a sample of nurses caring for patients with dementia in Beijing. Clearly, the nurses suffered from their work experiences in several aspects: they lacked the knowledge and skills required assessing and managing the patients as early as possible; they were physically and psychologically stressed while looking after the patients and faced with dilemmas and compromises in their decision-making.