Complementary and alternative medicine and critical care nurses: a survey of knowledge and practices in Australia

Background: The increasing and widespread use of complementary and alternative medicine in the general population requires health-care professionals to have a knowledge and appreciation of their use to ensure that decisions about care are appropriate, safe and meet patients' needs. This is also the case for critical care nurses. Presently, healthcare professionals including nurses have limited formal education on complementary and alternative medicine. Critical care nurses' role in relation to complementary and alternative medicine is important for two patient care reasons: some can adversely interact with conventional medicines and others can potentially improve patient's well-being. Australian critical care nurses' knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine is unknown.

Purpose: To identify Australian critical care nurses' assessment practices, attitudes, knowledge, and use of complementary and alternative medicine in practice.

Methods: A descriptive, exploratory online survey of Australian critical care nurses through a national critical care nursing database was undertaken during early 2011.

Findings: Five of twenty-eight therapies were endorsed by the respondents (n=379) most positively regarding legitmacy, knowledge, benefit and use in practice: exercise; diet; counselling/psychology; relaxation techniques; and massage. The findings also suggest that a specific area within patient files promotes the practice of identifying and recording current complementary and alternative medicine use and that the majority of respondents supported further education.

Conclusion: Critical care nurses although supporting a number of therapies also identified a need for increased knowledge and understanding. As the findings also suggest that patients and families are requesting a range of therapies there is a need to investigate the provision of appropriate educational resources for critical care nurses to ensure safe and evidence-based care.