The Longitudinal Prevalence of Unfinished Nursing Care at the US Army Burn Center

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the prevalence and patterns of unfinished nursing care (UNC) in relation to variations in nursing staff supply and working conditions at the US Army Burn Center. Design: Repeated measures, descriptive design. Methods: Monthly, for six months, registered and licensed vocational nurses completed a 50-item, paper survey. Administrative data related to nursing staff supply and working conditions also were collected monthly from local nurse leaders. Sample: In total, 599 surveys were handed out to 118 nurses; 269 useable surveys were returned (overall response rate of 44.9%, range = 37.9% -51.0%). A total of 95 unique participants were identified, indicating that 80.5% of all eligible nurses participated at least once. Sixty-five (55.1%) participated more than once; 55 (46.6%) participated three or more times. Analysis: Descriptive statistics and multilevel modeling were used in the analysis. Findings: Monthly, 85.7% -100% of nurses reported leaving at least one element of care unfinished. On average, nurses rationed 52.3% -77.7% of the 31 elements of care. Most frequently left unfinished were: documentation of care, emotional support, reviewing interdisciplinary documentation, and changing intravenous catheters (in one unit). Least frequently left unfinished were: the provision of enteral/parenteral nutrition, monitoring patient safety, and important conversations. Only nursing care hours provided by float staff significantly predicted nurse estimates of UNC, Beta = .008, p < .05, R2 = .021. Implications for Military Nursing: UNC increases the risk of patient adverse events; burn patients may be at greater risk due to hospitalization length. Nursing leaders should: work to identify causes of UNC; develop interventions to give bedside nurses more time to complete care.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 02, 2018
Accession Number
AD1053542

Entities

People

  • Christopher A Vanfosson

Organizations

  • University of Texas at Austin

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Digital Data
  • Digital Information
  • Drug Therapy
  • Feeding Methods
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Hygiene
  • Intensive Care Units
  • Knowledge Management
  • Medical Personnel
  • Metadata
  • Military Medicine
  • Patient Care
  • Public Administration
  • Surveys

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Medical or Health Care Field.
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