Nurse productivity: using evidence to enhance nurses' use of time

Nurs Stand. 2024 Feb 12. doi: 10.7748/ns.2024.e12251. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe UK is experiencing a nursing shortage, making it challenging to maintain the staffing levels required to deliver effective patient care. One way of enhancing the care delivered by the existing workforce could be to optimise nurse productivity; however, previous efforts to do this have been largely ineffective, due in part to a focus on the processes of care delivery rather than the nursing activities within these processes. In this article, the author explores the concept of nurse productivity and suggests that enhancing productivity requires the identification of nursing activities and consideration of how these may be undertaken in a more time-efficient manner - or removed altogether. The author discusses two such activities: intentional (hourly) rounding, and fixed-time manual vital signs for patients on general wards. The author also considers the potential of using automatic continuous remote monitoring on general hospital wards to free up nurses' time for other care activities.PMID:38343375 | DOI:10.7748/ns.2024.e12251

Source: Nursing Standard - February 12, 2024 Category: Nursing Authors: Sara Morgan Source Type: research