Impact of delirium intervention on cognitive load among nurses in the intensive care unit: A multi‐centre cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: High cognitive load in nurses is a common problem in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, it remains unclear what different types of cognitive load the ICU nurses have experienced during the implementation of delirium interventions. Aim: To describe the characteristics and explore the effect of implementing a delirium intervention on the cognitive load of nurses working in the ICU. Methods: A cluster‐randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted. Six ICUs were randomized in a 1:1 ratio, and eligible nurses from these units provided either a delirium bundle intervention in addition to usual care (27 nurses) or usual care alone. An instrument was used to measure different types of cognitive load (MDT‐CL), assessing intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load. The repeated measures analysis of variance was used to detect between‐group differences. Results: Among these nurses, significant between‐group differences were identified in terms of their overall (P < 0.001), intrinsic (P < 0.001) and extraneous (P < 0.001) cognitive load. There was no significant change observed in the germane cognitive load (P = 0.489) in the delirium intervention group. Conclusion: It is important to understand how the implementation of a delirium intervention affects different types of cognitive load in nurses, in order that tailored strategies can be applied to reduce cognitive load in ICU nurses. Summary statement: What is already known about the topic? ABCDEF bundle interventions are effective to reduce ICU delirium incidence and improve clinical outcomes.Nursing care in the intensive care units is characterized by elevated demand on workloads and increased cognitive load.Cognitive load has been identified to include three different types: intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load and germane cognitive load. What this paper adds? The application of a delirium intervention in ICU nurses can increase the intrinsic, extraneous and overall cognitive load but had no effect on the germane cognitive load in ICU nurses.It is important to understand how the implementation of a delirium intervention affects different types of cognitive load in nurses so that tailored strategies can be applied to reduce cognitive load in ICU nurses. The implications of this paper: Evaluating different types of cognitive load in ICU nurse is helpful to support appropriate allocation of nursing resources and improvement of patient safety.This study highlights the necessity of improving efforts focusing on reduction of the intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load related to nursing care for delirium in ICUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]