Abstract
This study investigated the difficulties intensive care unit (ICU) nurses faced in nursing practice and clarified the relationship between difficulties in nursing practice and willingness to continue working.
A self-administered questionnaire survey was distributed to 199 ICU nurses; the average age was 31.8 years and average ICU work experience was 56 months. The questionnaire was created based on semi-structured interviews of 33 ICU nurses with an average ICU work experience of 55 months, and included 25 items on difficulties in nursing practice and 5 items on willingness to continue working. Factor analysis showed that difficulties in nursing practice comprised 5 factors and willingness to continue working comprised 1 factor. Cronbach's α for each factor was over 0.8. Multiple regression analysis was also performed to determine the factors associated with willingness to continue working.
Results showed that 74.9% of the nurses feared that their actions would affect patients in a critical condition, and 71.3% of them faced difficulties making clinical judgments instantaneously. In addition, two factors had a negative effect on the willingness to continue working: (1) a difficulty in nursing practice, which was termed "The difficulties in nursing practice in tense situations" and (2) the length of ICU work experience.
