Exploring heterogeneity in ICU nurses’ perceived intrahospital transport safety: a latent profile analysis with exploratory threshold identification

Background: Intrahospital transport (IHT) of critically ill patients is a high-risk process in intensive care units (ICUs), in which nurses play a key role in ensuring patient safety. However, little is known about potential differences in ICU nurses’ perceptions of IHT safety. This study aimed to explore heterogeneity in ICU nurses’ perceived IHT safety using a person-centred analytical approach and to derive a preliminary perception-based reference threshold on the Intrahospital Transport Safety Scale (IHTSS). Design: A cross-sectional, exploratory study. Methods: ICU nurses from tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province, China, completed the Chinese version of the IHTSS. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify subgroups with distinct patterns of perceived IHT safety. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was then conducted as an exploratory, internally referenced approach to examine potential reference thresholds in relation to the LPA-derived profiles. Results: Three latent profiles of perceived IHT safety (lower, moderate, and higher) were identified. ROC analysis demonstrated clear internal separation between the higher perceived safety profile and the remaining profiles, yielding an internally derived reference score of 101 on the IHTSS. Nurses with lower perceived safety more frequently reported limited IHT-related training exposure, reduced checklist use, greater IHT-related fear, and lower confidence. Conclusions: This study identified heterogeneity in ICU nurses’ perceived intrahospital transport safety and proposed a preliminary, internally derived reference threshold on the IHTSS. The threshold should be interpreted as perception-based and exploratory, and external validation is required before broader application.