Lisa Wolf, Ellen Benjamin, Paul Clark, Michael Callihan
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: When emergency department staffing is inadequate, patient care may be missed. Information regarding the association between missed care and staffing is lacking in the emergency department setting. This study aimed to explore considerations for and configurations of staffing patterns and their relationship to missed care, missed decompensation, and delays in care.
Methods: This study used an exploratory qualitative approach with data derived from focus groups and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. A total of 39 emergency nurses in varied roles attending a national conference were recruited. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used to guide the reporting of this study.
Results: Participants reported information grouped into 5 major categories: ratios, staffing patterns, work ethic, role of administration, and missed care. Both staff and charge nurses reported a preference for a 1:3 nurse-to-patient ratio, with higher patient ratios described as leading to missed care, missed decompensation, and delays in care.
Discussion: The individual and institutional elements of staffing decisions may have a significant impact on patient outcomes in the form of missed care, missed diagnoses, and delayed care. Staffing decisions may also affect the psychological health of emergency nurses by fostering burnout. Across roles, nurses perceive a disconnect between the ED environment and staffing plans generated by persons outside the department. Future research should focus quantitatively on relationships between staffing patterns and patient and nursing outcomes.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Emergency Nursing, the official journal of the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), is committed to the dissemination of high quality, peer-reviewed manuscripts relevant to all areas of emergency nursing practice across the lifespan. Journal content includes clinical topics, integrative or systematic literature reviews, research, and practice improvement initiatives that provide emergency nurses globally with implications for translation of new knowledge into practice.
The Journal also includes focused sections such as case studies, pharmacology/toxicology, injury prevention, trauma, triage, quality and safety, pediatrics and geriatrics.
The Journal aims to mirror the goal of ENA to promote: community, governance and leadership, knowledge, quality and safety, and advocacy.