TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence, patterns and predictors of nursing care left undone in European hospitals
T2 - Results from the multicountry cross-sectional RN4CAST study
AU - Ausserhofer, Dietmar
AU - Zander, Britta
AU - Busse, Reinhard
AU - Schubert, Maria
AU - Geest, Sabina De
AU - Rafferty, Anne Marie
AU - Ball, Jane
AU - Scott, Anne
AU - Kinnunen, Juha
AU - Heinen, Maud
AU - Sjetne, Ingeborg Stromseng
AU - Moreno-Casbas, Teresa
AU - Kózka, Maria
AU - Lindqvist, Rikard
AU - Diomidous, Marianna
AU - Bruyneel, Luk
AU - Sermeus, Walter
AU - Aiken, Linda H.
AU - Schwendimann, René
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - 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 nonnursing 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.
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 nonnursing 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892608808&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002318
DO - 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002318
M3 - Article
C2 - 24214796
AN - SCOPUS:84892608808
SN - 2044-5415
VL - 23
SP - 126
EP - 135
JO - BMJ Quality and Safety
JF - BMJ Quality and Safety
IS - 2
ER -