Nurses and midwives perceptions of missed nursing care – A South Australian study
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Date
2014-09
Authors
Verrall, Claire
Abery, Elizabeth
Harvey, C
Henderson, Julie Anne
Willis, Eileen Mary
Hamilton, P
Toffoli, Luisa Patrizia
Blackman, Ian Robert
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Rights
Copyright © 2014 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rights Holder
Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract
Background
Budgetary restrictions and shorter hospital admission times have increased demands upon nursing time leading to nurses missing or rationing care. Previous research studies involving perceptions of missed care have predominantly occurred outside of Australia. This paper reports findings from the first South Australian study to explore missed nursing care.
Aim
To determine and explore nurses’ perceptions of reasons for missed care within the South Australian context and across a variety of healthcare settings.
Method
The survey was a collaborative venture between the Flinders University of South Australia, After Hours Nurse Staffing Work Intensity and Quality of Care project team and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, SA Branch.
Electronic invitations using Survey Monkey were sent to randomly selected nurses and midwives and available online for two months. Three hundred and fifty four nurses and midwives responded. Recurring issues were identified from qualitative data within the survey and three main reasons for missed care emerged.
Findings
Three main reasons for missed care were determined as: competing demands that reduce time for patient care; ineffective methods for determining staffing levels; and skill mix including inadequate staff numbers. These broad issues represented respondents’ perceptions of missed care.
Conclusion
Issues around staffing levels, skill mix and the ability to predict workload play a major role in the delivery of care. This study identified the increasing work demands on nurses/midwifes. Solutions to the rationing of care need further exploration.
Description
Author version made available in accordance with the publisher's policy for non-mandated open access submission. Under Elsevier's copyright, non-mandated authors are permitted to make work available in an institutional repository. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was
accepted for publication in Collegian. Changes resulting
from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing,
corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control
mechanisms may not be reflected in this document.
Changes may have been made to this work since it was
submitted for publication. A definitive version was
subsequently published in COLLEGIAN, [2014] DOI:10.1016/
j.colegn.2014.09.001
Keywords
Citation
Verrall, C., et al. Nurses and midwives perceptions of missed nursing care — A South Australian study. Collegian (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2014.09.001