Search results for "Nurse Managers"

Prior research shows that nurse fatigue contributes to medical error, placing patient safety at risk. Investigators performed a secondary analysis of survey data from 340 inpatient nurses to determine how different aspects of the work system—person, tasks, environment, organization, and tools and technology—affect nurse fatigue and recovery. They conclude that a work systems approach leads to a better understanding of occupational fatigue and carries important implications for improving safety.

Nurse fatigue is associated with omissions and errors in care. This qualitative study found that nursing professional culture in its current state poses a challenge to effectively mitigating fatigue among nurses. The authors advocate for future research to develop culture change models and strategies that address these barriers.

Fatigue can contribute to human error. This commentary discusses incidents reported to Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System that demonstrate the impact of fatigue on nursing care. The authors introduce guidelines that focus on shared accountability to mitigate health care worker fatigue, including individual habits and organizational responsibilities.

Nurse workload can contribute to burnout and diminish patient safety. This study found that rotating schedules were associated with higher reported fatigue among nurses. Introducing more breaks during shifts, limiting shift duration, and mandating 48-hour breaks between night-to-day rotations led to decreased nurse fatigue.

Adverse events are thought to be common in patients receiving home health care. This systematic review defined home care safety risks for both patients and caregivers, including awkward working positions, social distractions, abuse and violence, and other issues that are relatively unique to this care setting.

Nurses' work-related fatigue has the potential to contribute to medication errors and missed nursing care. This position statement provides recommendations for neonatal nurses and their employers to reduce risks related to long work shifts.

Nurse fatigue has been associated with diminished decision-making skills that can contribute to patient harm. This online training program for clinicians and administrators will explore hazards related to nurse fatigue and provide strategies to address behaviors and systems that increase these risks.

Extended work shifts for nurses have been linked to higher risk of errors. This systematic review of nursing errors found that shift lengths of 12 or more hours are associated with more errors, consistent with prior studies suggesting that increased nursing workload leads to patient safety vulnerabilities.

Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) do not have formal restrictions on their work hours. This survey found that more than half of CRNAs worked extended duration (greater than 16 hour) shifts, and nearly one-third reported committing a medical error due to fatigue.

Although 12-hour nursing shifts are common in the United States, this study found that only 15% of European nurses worked 12 hours or more. Similar to prior research, longer nursing shifts were associated with lower quality of care and compromised patient safety. This study also found that nurses working extended shifts reported more care left undone. Nurses who worked overtime, even if shift length was less than 10 hours, described similar concerns. The authors warn that policies to adopt standard 12-hour nursing shifts as a cost-effective way of maintaining nurse–patient ratios may contribute to burnout. A past AHRQ WebM&M interview with Barbara Blakeney discussed the importance of proper nursing staffing for patient safety, and a prior AHRQ WebM&M commentary examines the complexities around balancing nurse staffing and workload.

Fatigue is known to contribute to mistakes and omissions in nursing care. This position statement outlines the shared responsibility of nurses and health care organizations to limit the conditions that contribute to nurse fatigue such as shift work, personal habits, and mandatory overtime.

Many studies have demonstrated the link between health care worker fatigue and increased risk of errors. Highlighting the pervasive concern of nurses reporting fatigue, this commentary relates recommendations to help limit its effects, including managing caffeine intake, enlisting team support, and utilizing good sleep habits.

Sleep deprivation can worsen clinical performance. Early studies on the effects of fatigue in clinical trainees formed some of the basis behind duty hour restrictions for resident physicians. This study surveyed intensive care unit (ICU) nurses about levels of fatigue and clinical decision-making. Nurses who regretted a clinical decision were more apt to be fatigued and to work 12-hour shifts. Sleep deprivation among ICU nurses was found to be common, with almost three-quarters of surveyed nurses having lost 8 or more hours of sleep in a 5-day period. The study was limited by a very low (17%) response rate, potentially biasing the results. Prior research has linked extended nursing shift lengths with compromised patient safety.

Extended work shifts for nurses have been linked to increased risk of errors. This large-scale study aimed to provide new information on hospital nurses' shift length and to estimate the effects on nurse-reported hospital safety and quality. Most hospital staff nurses were found to work extended shifts of at least 12 hours. Nurses that worked shifts of 10 hours or longer were more likely to report a poor safety grade compared with nurses working 8- to 9-hour shifts. Some authors have proposed harm reduction strategies for nurses that must work 12-hour shifts. A high-profile fatal medication error that occurred while a nurse was working a double shift previously spotlighted the issue of long nursing hours.

The critical role that nurses play in ensuring patient safety can be compromised by excess workload. A large body of literature has linked higher patient-to-nurse ratios to a variety of preventable complications and even increased inpatient mortality. However, it is not clear whether high nursing workload alone can impair patient safety, or if overall working conditions for nurses also plays a role in safety. This study, which examined the association between hospital-acquired infections, nurse staffing, and burnout among nurses found that the number of patients per nurse did not entirely predict safety problems. On the other hand, after controlling for hospital and patient characteristics, the investigators found that increased rates of burnout among nurses was significantly associated with a higher risk of hospital-acquired infections. The complex issue of nurse staffing and workload is discussed in this AHRQ WebM&M commentary.

This special issue explores adverse events in nursing, including nurses' perceptions and attitudes towards adverse events, the effect of fatigue on shift work, and how to improve clinical decision making.

This study surveyed 745 registered nurses and found that fatigue levels were correlated with perceptions of poor performance. Addressing working environment variables, such as shift length and hours worked weekly, may improve performance as these variables were associated with increased fatigue.

This study describes the successes and challenges associated with implementing a formal program to combat fatigue among nurses. Although the program was well received, organizational culture and lack of resources were perceived as barriers to wider implementation.

This commentary addresses the nature of shift work and how it may affect occupational health nursing.

This article describes how patient safety and team coordination in the ICU are connected. The author recommends team training as an approach to enhance collaboration.