RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prevalence, patterns and predictors of nursing care left undone in European hospitals: results from the multicountry cross-sectional RN4CAST study
JF BMJ Quality & Safety
JO BMJ Qual Saf
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 126
OP 135
DO 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002318
VO 23
IS 2
A1 Dietmar Ausserhofer
A1 Britta Zander
A1 Reinhard Busse
A1 Maria Schubert
A1 Sabina De Geest
A1 Anne Marie Rafferty
A1 Jane Ball
A1 Anne Scott
A1 Juha Kinnunen
A1 Maud Heinen
A1 Ingeborg Strømseng Sjetne
A1 Teresa Moreno-Casbas
A1 Maria Kózka
A1 Rikard Lindqvist
A1 Marianna Diomidous
A1 Luk Bruyneel
A1 Walter Sermeus
A1 Linda H Aiken
A1 René Schwendimann
A1 on behalf of the RN4CAST consortium
YR 2014
UL http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/23/2/126.abstract
AB Background Little is known of the extent to which nursing-care tasks are left undone as an international phenomenon. Aim The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence and patterns of nursing care left undone across European hospitals and explore its associations with nurse-related organisational factors. Methods Data were collected from 33 659 nurses in 488 hospitals across 12 European countries for a large multicountry cross-sectional study. Results Across European hospitals, the most frequent nursing care activities left undone included ‘Comfort/talk with patients’ (53%), ‘Developing or updating nursing care plans/care pathways’ (42%) and ‘Educating patients and families’ (41%). In hospitals with more favourable work environments (B=−2.19; p<0.0001), lower patient to nurse ratios (B=0.09; p<0.0001), and lower proportions of nurses carrying out non-nursing tasks frequently (B=2.18; p<0.0001), fewer nurses reported leaving nursing care undone. Conclusions Nursing care left undone was prevalent across all European countries and was associated with nurse-related organisational factors. We discovered similar patterns of nursing care left undone across a cross-section of European hospitals, suggesting that nurses develop informal task hierarchies to facilitate important patient-care decisions. Further research on the impact of nursing care left undone for patient outcomes and nurse well-being is required.