Abstract
Purpose: To determine the actual knowledge, practice, and attitudes of physicians and nurses in an intensive care units (ICUs) regarding nutrition support therapy for critically ill patients and the factors associated with knowledge and practice.
Methods: In October 2022, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on physicians and nurses affiliated with the ICU of University of Tsukuba Hospital. Questionnaire items were divided into knowledge, practice, and attitude aspects associated with nutritional therapy for critically ill patients; only the nurses answered the practice items.
Results: The questionnaire was distributed to 79 respondents, 54 of whom responded. Those with sufficient knowledge accounted for 50％ and those with sufficient practice accounted for 64％. The compliance with each practice was 80％. In terms of attitudes, less than half of the respondents had learned about and referred to nutrition therapy guidelines. Knowledge was weakly positively correlated with age and years of experience.
Conclusions: Among ICU physicians and nurses, only half had sufficient knowledge of nutritional therapy for critically ill patients, but compliance with practice was high. Less than half of the participants had actively learned about nutritional therapy and applied relevant guidelines. In the future, it will be necessary to disseminate knowledge of guidelines through educational programs and to improve knowledge, practice, and attitudes regarding nutritional therapy for critically ill patients.
