Abstract
BACKGROUND: Caring in a critical care environment may be conceptualised differently compared with other nursing disciplines because of the patient's critical condition and the specialised staffing categories and skills. However, critical care nurses who prioritise caring can meaningfully connect with critically ill patient and their families, resulting in positive healthcare outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To assess critical care nurses' orientations to caring for critically ill patient and their families. METHODS: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with 139 purposively sampled critical care nurses working in a tertiary referral hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were collected using the Caring Assessment for Caregivers questionnaire, and analysis included descriptive and comparative statistics. RESULTS: The overall mean score of critical care nurses' orientations to caring was 116.01 (range of 25 - 125). Of the five subscales (dimensions), the dimension of 'Maintaining belief' had the highest mean score of 24.25 and the dimension of 'Being with' had the lowest mean score of 22.70 (range 5 - 25). CONCLUSION: While critical care nurses reported high overall orientations to caring, lower mean scores on the subscale 'Being with' suggest that there are areas for critical care nurses to grow in their role as carers. Further research using qualitative approaches may shed valuable insights into how the critical care environment impacts the caring orientations of critical care nurses. CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY: The study aims to highlight the orientations of critical care nurses to different areas of caring. In so doing management can provide specific support to nurses to strengthen their caring abilities.