Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward the daily management of PICC in critically ill cancer patients discharged from intensive care units.

Background: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are widely used in critically ill cancer patients. We aimed to investigate the status of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward the daily management of PICCs in critically ill cancer patients discharged from intensive care units. Methods: Totally, 152 critically ill cancer patients discharged from two intensive care units in China were surveyed using a self-administered KAP questionnaire. Patients' demographics and PICC-related KAP scores were collected and analyzed using independent-samples t-test and multivariate stepwise linear regression analysis. Results: All 152 patients completed the survey. The mean KAP scores were 32.61 +/- 3.80 points, 28.11 +/- 3.18 points, and 44.31 +/- 3.98 points, respectively. KAP scores were found to have significant positive correlations with each other (P<0.05). The major factors influencing the total KAP score were the PICC indwelling time and the patient's educational degree, age, and place of residence (P<0.05). Conclusion: We noted that KAP status toward the daily management of PICC in critically ill cancer patients discharged from intensive care units is not optimistic and needs to be further improved. Attention should be paid to the health education patterns of KAP, and individualized instruction should be pursued.