Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) Among Nurses on Oral Care for Intensive Care Unit Patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Oral care of intensive care unit (ICU) bound individuals is essential for overall health outcomes and to prevent complications. Nurses, who are the primary caregivers, should possess adequate knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in this regard to provide optimal care to these patients. There are no standardized guidelines existing at present in this regard, making the practice of oral care more challenging. There is a diversified representation of nurses who practice in this region of the world and have not been analyzed in the past. This study would like to address this paucity of data. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of nurses regarding oral health care in ICU patients along with analyzing any existing hospital-based policies related to oral care.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 230 nurses practicing at ICU of the National Guard Health Affairs (NGHAs) Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. Nurses responded to 22 closed-ended questionnaires, which were adopted after content validation and reliability assessment. Descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and multinomial logistic regression were carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 20, 2011; IBM Corp., Armonk, USA).

Results: A total of 230 (51.1%) nurses responded. The mean working experience of 12.6 (±7.5) years and ICU experience of 10.6 (±6.7) years were observed. Seventy-four (32.2%) nurses mentioned they received oral care training for ICU patients as part of their degree. A significant variation (p=0.03) in response was observed based on qualification concerning the knowledge of nurses if improper oral care among ICU patients could cause systemic complications. Nurses with less than five years' experience were more likely to provide oral care only once per day compared to nurses with higher experience (>10 years) (OR: 2.97, p=0.00, 95% CI: 2.40-12.2).

Conclusion: There were certain knowledge, attitude, and practice-based questions that elicited significant differences in responses based on the qualifications and experience of the nurses. Overall, the nurses did possess fair knowledge and favorable attitudes towards oral care in these patients.