The relationship between the attitudes of nurses working in intensive care units to wards urinary catheter related infections and their workloads

This study was conducted as a descriptive research to evaluate the relationship between the attitudes of nurses working in intensive care units towards catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and their workload. The study November 15, 2023 – February 15, 2024, 106 nurses working in the adult intensive care units of a public hospital, who met the inclusion criteria and the sample number determined by the power analysis (alpha=0.05, power=0.80), composed the study and the study was completed with 222 nurses. Data were collected using a Question Form, the Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Prevention Measures Scale (it is scored in the december of 5-30 points and the increase of the score means that the workload increases) and the Workload Scale (it is scored in the december of 5-30 points and the increase of the score means that the workload increases), through face to face interviews. Before starting the study, necessary permissions were obtained from the institution where the study was conducted, the nurses, and the ethics committee. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the data. It was found that 74.3% of nurses graduated from bachelor's degree and 91,4% had a monthly overtime period of 25 hours or more, 47,7% stated that the workload was more during the day shift, 99,5% provided urinary catheter care, 44.2% stated that they had sufficient knowledge about the application and maintenance of urinary catheter to patients in the intensive care unit. It was determined that the average score of the nurses on the Catheter-Related Urinary Tract Infections Control Measures Scale was 66,76±5,28, and the average score on the Workload Scale was 26.83±3.58. It was found that there was a significant difference between the duration of service in the profession and the the Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Prevention Measures Scale score average, between shift hours and the status of using a care package in urinary catheter care and the Workload Scale score average, and between the status of receiving training on urinary Decatur infections after graduation and the score averages of both scales (p<0,05). It was found that there was a positively significant relationship between the Catheter-Related Urinary Tract Infections Control Measures Scale and the Workload Scale score averages. It was determined that the average score of the nurses on the Catheter-Related Urinary Tract Infections Control Measures Scale and Workload Scale was high. In this direction, it may be recommended that the institution take measures to reduce the workloads of nurses.