Job satisfaction, work environment, and burnout as predictors of missed nursing care in pediatric units: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To examine the frequency and predictors of missed nursing care in pediatric units.

Design and methods: This study with a descriptive cross-sectional design was conducted in the pediatric clinics of two public university hospitals in Türkiye. The convenience sampling method was employed, including all nurses working in pediatric units, with a total of 123 nurses participating. Data were collected face-to-face from May to October 2023 using a sociodemographic and job-related characteristics form, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and missed nursing care activity questions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis.

Results: The most frequently missed care activities were found to be skin care (45.5 %), educating patients and families (40.7 %), and preparing patients and families for discharge (37.4 %). Predictors of missed nursing care were nurses' educational level, high nurse-to-patient ratios, low job satisfaction, enough opportunity to discuss patient care issues with other nurses, nursing foundations for quality of care, nurse manager's ability, leadership, and support for nurses, staffing and resource adequacy, and collegial nurse-physician relations, emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment.

Conclusions: This study revealed that the most frequently missed care activities among nurses were related to skin care, education, and discharge preparation. Understanding the underlying causes is essential for reducing the rate of missed care.

Practice implications: To reduce the frequency of missed care, it is necessary to improve the work environment and make institutional investments in nursing, enabling nurses to effectively fulfill their duties.