No abstract

Background: Critically ill patients have complex nutritional needs to meet the metabolic response to critical illness. The nutritional support for critically ill patients is an important determinant of their survival and recovery. Critical care nurses are the primary ones responsible for feeding the patients in intensive care units. Therefore, their knowledge and performance are important for providing adequate nutritional support for their patients and prevent malnutrition complications. Aim: The current study aimed to assess the effect of nasogastric tube feeding educational interventions on critical care nurses' knowledge and performance. Method: A quasi-experimental one-group with pre and post-test design was used with a convenience sample of 60 critical care nurses working in four intensive care units affiliated with a university hospital in Egypt. The data were collected by using two tools: 'nasogastric tube feeding knowledge questionnaire' and 'nasogastric tube feeding observation checklist'.Results: Statistically significant differences were noted in the total mean scores of nurses' knowledge and performance of nasogastric tube feeding before and after the educational interventions. Improvement of participant nurses' knowledge and performance was markedly noted one month after education, however, a decline in knowledge and performance was evident after three months. Conclusion and Recommendations: Educational interventions can improve nurses' knowledge and performance of nasogastric tube feeding, and this will be positively reflected on patients' outcomes. Therefore, we recommend organizing continuous educational activities for critical care nurses to keep them up-to-date and competent.