[How do nurses describe timeliness in the delivery of nursing interventions? A qualitative study]. / Wie beschreiben Pflegefachpersonen zeitliche Angemessenheit für das Durchführen von Pflegemassnahmen?

How do nurses describe timeliness in the delivery of nursing interventions? A qualitative study Abstract: Background: Timeliness of nursing interventions is fundamental to professional medical care. Although nurses have developed strategies to manage time resources, nursing interventions are often carried out too early or too late. Both can have a negative impact on the quality of care and safety. However, no publications are available describing nurses' views on the appropriateness of time to perform nursing interventions. Aim: The aim was to describe what registered nurses in the hospital understand by the timeliness to deliver care. Methods: For this qualitative study, eight registered nurses were interviewed individually. Data analysis was performed using content analysis according to Mayring. Results: For the participants, timeliness in performing care interventions can be described as relational and dynamically changing over time. For them it is not limited to a defined point in time and they explain it as a time frame. From their point of view, timely action can prevent harm and suffering and ensure patients safety and well-being. Environmental factors, nursing goals and the urgency of actions influence them whether they act in a timely manner. Conclusion: Among the participating nurses, there exists a shared, often implicit, understanding of timeliness. Results of this study may help to understand the implicit understanding and the related processes and contribute to quality assurance in nursing.

[Registered nurses' experience of necessary performed and missed nursing care: a qualitative study]. / Erleben von Pflegefachpersonen in Bezug auf durchgeführte und versäumte Pflege.

Registered nurses' experience of necessary performed and missed nursing care: a qualitative study Abstract: Background: Providing high quality care based on their caring attitude is essential for nurses. Missed Care can cause feelings of guilt and dissatisfaction among them. Studies on their experiential transition between fully performed and missed care are lacking. They may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of influencing factors and the impact on nurses' experience. Aim: The aim was to explore how nurses at a centre hospital in German-speaking Switzerland describe performance of nursing interventions in terms of the different expressions between performed and missed care. Methods: Between September 2020 and March 2021 the first author conducted eleven qualitative guide-based individual interviews with registered nurses which were analysed using Mayring's qualitative content analysis and knowledge maps. Results: The analysis resulted in five main categories: Optimal care, satisfaction in mediocrity, a huge lack, patients' reactions and influencing factors. Nurses described, in addition to personal experience and expertise, different coping strategies to prevent missed care and maintain patients' and their own satisfaction. Conclusions: In addition to interventions that can prevent missed care, nurses' experience of performed care should be explored further. This can deepen the understanding of its relationship with professional caring attitudes as well as with patient-related and professional satisfaction.

Patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals - an updated concept.

RATIONAL: The interest in complexity of nursing care has grown in science and practice in recent years because of changed patient profiles and higher average levels of patient acuity in acute care hospitals. AIM: The aim of this study was to redefine the concept of patient-related 'complexity of nursing care' in acute care hospitals. DESIGN: The hybrid model for concept development was chosen. METHODS: In a first theoretical phase, we performed a narrative literature review regarding defining elements of patient-related 'complexity of nursing care' and developed a working definition. In the fieldwork phase, we investigated collective case studies representing 12 nursing care situations. The theoretical phase was updated before all findings were synthesised, and in the final analytical phase, the preliminary working definition was refined. ETHICS: An ethical committee judged the study as unproblematic (waiver no. 82/14 from 5 December 2014). RESULTS: The concept was redefined confirming previous understandings of patient-related 'complexity of nursing care' as a dynamic, relational concept characterised by the instability, variability and uncertainty that exist. The extent of complexity was determined by multifaceted patient problems and resources as well as extensive knowledge, experience, attention and caring skills of registered nurses interacting with each other. LIMITATIONS: The study did not include organisation-related complexity of nursing care. CONCLUSIONS: The redefinition of the concept may support a common understanding of patient-related demands on nursing care among practitioners, managers and politicians which is important regarding patient safety and health nursing staff.

Pflegefachpersonen denken über eine Definition von "durchgeführter und versäumter Pflege" nach.

Nurses reflect upon a definition of "performed and missed nursing care" - A qualitative study Abstract. Background: It is known that necessary nursing interventions are repeatedly omitted respectively only carried out partially or at a time that is not appropriate. In the literature, this is referred to as "missed nursing care". In the German-speaking region, there is no critically reflected definition of what is meant by "performed and missed nursing care", using qualitative methods. Therefore, we developed one in a three-phase study. Aim: The aim of phase 2, which is the focus of this article, was to critically reflect on the literature-based definition developed in phase 1 with nurses working in acute care hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland in order to specify it in phase 3. Methods: We conducted two focus group interviews with a total of 17 participants. We provided the participants with the preliminary definition and asked them for their reflections. We analysed the interviews content-analytically with the knowledge mapping technique as well as according to Mayring. Results: The participating nurses described that the contents of the definition were relevant and comprehensible for them. However, they also noticed differences from their understanding and gave indications for refining the definition, especially in relation to terms that include a time-related aspect. Conclusions: By involving nurses in the development of the definition, there is now a practical description of "performed and missed nursing care" that can be useful for quality assurance and development of care.

Performed and missed nursing care in Swiss acute care hospitals: Conceptual considerations and psychometric evaluation of the German MISSCARE questionnaire.

AIM: To have at hand a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess performed and missed nursing care in a Swiss acute care context. BACKGROUND: Regular monitoring of performed and missed nursing care is crucial for nurse leaders to make evidence-based decisions. As foundation, we developed a conceptual definition. Based on this, we decided to translate and adapt the MISSCARE. METHOD: In this methodological study, our newly developed German MISSCARE and previously used BERNCA-R were tested in a pilot study using a quantitative crossover design in a sample of 1,030 nurses and midwives in three Swiss acute care hospitals. Data were analysed descriptively, then using exploratory factor analysis and Rasch modelling. RESULTS: We obtained preliminary evidence that the German MISSCARE is sufficiently reliable and valid to measure performed and missed nursing care in our context but would benefit from structural adjustments. In contrast, the BERNCA-R proved insufficiently reliable for our purposes and context. CONCLUSION: Our conceptual definition was essential for the development of the German MISSCARE. Our results support the decision to use this questionnaire. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The adapted German MISSCARE will allow both monitoring of performed and missed nursing care over time and benchmarking of hospitals.

["One always has to be watchful": Categorisation of patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals]. / "Man muss stets aufmerksam sein".

"One always has to be watchful": Categorisation of patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals Abstract. Background: The increase of chronic illnesses and multimorbidity as well as more challenging treatment methods have caused higher acuity and complexity of nursing care situations. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and establish categories which describe different levels of patient-related complexity of nursing care in order to broaden the understanding of demands on nursing care due to patient situations. Methods: Using a collective case study design, we asked registered nurses and clinical nurse specialists to assess the complexity of twelve nursing care situations through a questionnaire before interviewing them about their deliberations on how they rated the situation. In this sub-study, we performed a qualitative secondary analysis of these data and looked for categories of comparable degrees of complexity. Results: We found five categories of complexity, ranging from "slightly complex" to "highly complex". "Slightly complex" situations demanded a nurse's attention on routine interventions, while "highly complex" situations demanded their constant attention on poorly assessable and poorly controllable conditions with uncertain outcomes. Conclusions: The five categories of complexity describe characteristics of the different levels of complexity in nursing care situations. They can support nursing managers with allocating nursing staff to patients according to their needs and provide a framework for discussing complex nursing care situations in basic and continuing education.

Patient-related complexity of care: a challenge or overwhelming burden for nurses - a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals has increased in recent years, in part due to shorter hospital stays and the increase in multimorbid patients. However, little research has been conducted on how nurses experience complex nursing care situations. AIMS: The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of how nurses experience complex nursing care situations in Swiss acute care hospitals. METHODS: This qualitative study utilised focus group interviews and thematic analysis. Focus groups facilitate different perspectives of the topic. Thematic analysis is suitable for the analysis of everyday stories. Participants were 24 Registered Nurses with experience in their field, from four Swiss hospitals. The evaluation was performed in six steps according to themes. Participation was voluntary. This study was part of a multicentre research project that had been approved by the responsible ethics committees. RESULTS: Three main themes regarding the experience of complex nursing care situations were found: complexity as a challenge, complexity as an overwhelming burden and mediating factors. Mediating factors included time resources and teamwork and interprofessional collaboration as contextual conditions. Additionally, nurses' individual characteristics such as their professional experience and expertise, as well as their personal and professional values and beliefs were considered as mediating factors. These mediating factors may determine whether complex nursing care situations are experienced as challenging or overwhelming. LIMITATIONS: The findings from this study are limited as only experienced nurses participated in the study. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses are ambivalent with regard to how they experience complex nursing care situations. The contextual conditions and the nurses' personal characteristics play a key role in whether nurses perceive complex nursing care situations as positive challenges or overwhelming burdens. These findings are important for managers, as they can support nurses to master complex nursing care situations.

Mixed-method research protocol: defining and operationalizing patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals.

AIM: To define the concept of patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals and to operationalize it in a questionnaire. BACKGROUND: The concept of patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals has not been conclusively defined in the literature. The operationalization in a corresponding questionnaire is necessary, given the increased significance of the topic, due to shortened lengths of stay and increased patient morbidity. DESIGN: Hybrid model of concept development and embedded mixed-methods design. METHODS: The theoretical phase of the hybrid model involved a literature review and the development of a working definition. In the fieldwork phase of 2015 and 2016, an embedded mixed-methods design was applied with complexity assessments of all patients at five Swiss hospitals using our newly operationalized questionnaire 'Complexity of Nursing Care' over 1 month. These data will be analysed with structural equation modelling. Twelve qualitative case studies will be embedded. They will be analysed using a structured process of constructing case studies and content analysis. In the final analytic phase, the quantitative and qualitative data will be merged and added to the results of the theoretical phase for a common interpretation. Cantonal Ethics Committee Zurich judged the research programme as unproblematic in December 2014 and May 2015. DISCUSSION: Following the phases of the hybrid model and using an embedded mixed-methods design can reach an in-depth understanding of patient-related complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals, a final version of the questionnaire and an acknowledged definition of the concept.

[Development of a set of nursing-sensitive indicators for Swiss practice]. / Die Entwicklung eines Sets von aufwandrelevanten Pflege-indikatoren für die Schweizer Pflegepraxis.

BACKGROUND: The SwissDRG prospective payment system is known to inadequately account for nursing intensity due to the DRG group criteria insufficiently describing the variability of nursing intensity within individual diagnosis-related groups. In order to allow for appropriate reimbursement and resource allocation, nursing intensity must be able to be explicitly quantified and accounted for. The aim of this project was to develop a set of nursing-sensitive indicators intended to reduce the variation within individual diagnosis-related groups, supplementary to existing SwissDRG group criteria. METHODS: The approach comprised a variety of methods. A systematic literature review, input from an advisory board and an expert panel, as well as three focus group interviews with nurses and nurse managers formed the basis for the synthesis of data and information gathered from these sources. RESULTS: A set of 14 nursing-sensitive indicators was developed. The indicators are intended to improve the homogeneity of nursing intensity within SwissDRG diagnosis-related groups. Before these nursing indicators can be adopted as group criteria, they must be formulated to conform with SwissDRG and tested empirically. CONCLUSION: This set of indicators can be seen at as a first step towards nursing intensity being adequately represented in SwissDRG diagnosis-related groups. The next challenge to be met is operationalising the indicators in codable form.

Complexity of nursing care in acute care hospital patients: results of a pilot study with a newly developed questionnaire.

AIM: The aim of this pilot study was to develop an instrument for measuring complexity of nursing care in hospitalised acute care patients as well as to examine its comprehensibility, its feasibility, the effort required for data collection, and its inter-rater reliability as well as its face validity. METHODS: This pilot study was designed as a descriptive, explorative cross-sectional survey with multiple measurements of the patient-related complexity of nursing care and a supplemental qualitative questionnaire conducted on six units of a Swiss university hospital. The instrument to assess complexity of nursing care was developed on the framework of Perrow and encompasses on three subscales a total of 15 items with a 5-point Likert scale. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was reviewed and approved by the Cantonal Ethics Committee. RESULTS: In total, 866 assessments of complexity of nursing care were carried out on 234 patients. The variability of the results of the six units, from three different specialties, suggests that the sampling was suitable for capturing a wide spectrum of complexity. The results of the three subscales are consistent and the discussion of them with the participating units shows that they are also plausible. The verification of the inter-rater reliability has satisfactory to high intersubjective correlation of the values. There were also a few suggestions for improving comprehensibility as well as on how to support user application. The time expenditure for the assessment between 2 to 5 minutes per patient was accurately. CONCLUSION: With the newly developed questionnaire to measure the complexity of nursing care in acute care hospitals it seems to be possible to assess and to quantify the complexity of nursing care in various acute care hospital settings. Based on the findings and the feedback of the participating users, the questionnaire needs to be improved for large-scale application.

Moral distress in nurses at an acute care hospital in Switzerland: results of a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: In the context of new reimbursement systems like diagnosis-related groups, moral distress is becoming a growing problem for healthcare providers. Moral distress can trigger emotional and physical reactions in nurses and can cause them to withdraw emotionally from patients or can cause them to change their work place. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to develop an instrument to measure moral distress among acute care nurses in the German-speaking context, to test its applicability, and to obtain initial indications of the instrument's validity. METHOD: The study was designed in 2011 as a cross-sectional pilot survey. Conducted on eight units of one university hospital in German-speaking Switzerland, 294 registered nurses were asked to fill out a web-based questionnaire on moral distress. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study proposal was approved by the cantonal ethics committee. All participating nurses provided informed consent and were assured of data confidentiality. RESULTS: The survey had a response rate of 55%. The results show the prevalence of statements on the questionnaire indicating situations with the potential to trigger moral distress. The entire range of answers was used in the responses. Most participants found the questionnaire comprehensible, while some criticized the phraseology of certain statements. Many more found the registration process prior to online access to be too time consuming. Nurses confirmed that the results reflect their subjective assessment of their situation and their experience of moral distress. CONCLUSION: The newly developed moral distress questionnaire appears to produce face validity and is sufficiently applicable for use in our study. The results indicate that moral distress appears to be a relevant phenomenon also in Swiss hospitals and that nurses were experiencing it prior to the introduction of Swiss diagnosis-related groups.

[Monitoring of nursing service context factors: first descriptive results of a cross-sectional Swiss study prior the introduction of SwissDRG]. / Monitoring von Pflegekontextfaktoren - Erste deskriptive Studienresultate einer Querschnittserhebung der schweizerischen DRG Begleitforschung Pflege vor Einführung der SwissDRG.

BACKGROUND: The adoption of DRG-based payment systems has narrowed hospitals' financial margins, necessitating streamlining and process optimization. The experience of other countries shows that this restructuring can influence context factors essential to the delivery of nursing care. As a result, nursing care quality and patient safety may be impacted. AIM: The Sinergia Project aims to develop a monitoring model and related instruments to continuously monitor the impact of DRG-based reimbursement on central nursing service context factors. METHOD: The descriptive, quantitative results were collected within the framework of a study with a mixed methods design by means of an online survey in which nurses from five hospitals participated. RESULTS: The results show that the nursing service context factors examined (nursing care complexity, quality of the work environment, management, moral distress and job satisfaction), have relevance in all practice areas as regards practice setting and nursing care delivery. Patterns can be recognized that are consistent with those found in the literature and which could be an indication of the relationships between the context factors above, as was hypothesized in the model. CONCLUSIONS: The study has provided the participating hospitals with useful data upon which to base discussions on ensuring quality of nursing care and practice development, in addition to information important to the further development of the model and the instruments employed.

[Nursing care in the run-up to Swiss DRG ­ Nurses' experiences with interprofessional collaboration, leadership, work load and job satisfaction]. / Pflege im Vorfeld von SwissDRG - Erfahrungen von Pflegenden mit interprofessioneller Zusammenarbeit, Führungsverhalten, Arbeitslast und Arbeitszufriedenheit.

BACKGROUND: The literature reports critically on the consequences of the introduction of case-based hospital reimbursement systems, which hamper the delivery of professional nursing care. For this reason, we examined the characteristics of nursing service context factors (work environment factors) in acute care hospitals with regards to the introduction of the new reimbursement system in Switzerland. AIM: This qualitative study describes practice experiences of nurses in the context of the characteristics of the nursing service context factors interprofessional collaboration, leadership, workload and job satisfaction. METHODS: Twenty focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 146 nurses in five acute care hospitals. RESULTS: The results indicated that for quite some time the participants had observed an increase in complexity of nursing care and a growing invasiveness of clinical diagnostics and treatment. At the same time they noticed a decrease in patient length of stay. They strived to offer high quality nursing care even in situations where demands outweighed resources. Good interprofessional collaboration and supportive leadership contributed substantially to nurses' ability to overcome daily challenges. Job satisfaction was bolstered by interactions with patients. Also, the role played by the nursing team itself is not to be underestimated. CONCLUSIONS: From the participants' point of view, context factors harbor great potential for attaining positive patient outcomes and higher job satisfaction and have to be monitored repeatedly.

Derivation and validation of a prediction model to establish nursing-sensitive quality benchmarks in medical inpatients: a secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Hospitals are using nursing-sensitive outcomes (NSOs) based on administrative data to measure and benchmark quality of nursing care in acute care wards. In order to facilitate comparisons between different hospitals and wards with heterogeneous patient populations, proper adjustment procedures are required. In this article, we first identify predictors for common NSOs in acute medical care of adult patients based on administrative data. We then develop and cross-validate an NSO-oriented prediction model. METHODS: We used administrative data from seven hospitals in Switzerland to derive prediction models for each of the following NSO: hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (≥ stage II), hospital-acquired urinary tract infection, non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia and in-hospital mortality. We used a split dataset approach by performing a random 80:20 split of the data into a training set and a test set. We assessed discrimination of the models by area under the receiver operating characteristic curves. Finally, we used the validated models to establish a benchmark between the participating hospitals. RESULTS: We considered 36,149 hospitalisations, of which 51.9% were male patients with a median age of 73 years (with an interquartile range of 59-82). Age and length of hospital stay were independently associated with all four NSOs. The derivation and validation models showed a good discrimination in the training (AUC range: 0.75-0.84) and in the test dataset (AUC range: 0.77-0.81), respectively. Variation among different hospitals was relevant considering the risk for hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (≥ stage II) (adjusted Odds ratio [aOR] range: 0.51 [95% CI: 0.38-0.69] - 1.65 [95% CI: 1.33-2.04]), the risk for hospital-acquired urinary tract infection (aOR range: 0.46 [95% CI: 0.36-0.58] - 1.45 [95% CI: 1.31-1.62]), the risk for non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (aOR range: 0.28 [95% CI: 0.09-0.89] - 2.87 [95% CI: 2.27-3.64]), and the risk for in-hospital mortality (aOR range: 0.45 [95% CI: 0.36-0.56] - 1.39 [95% CI: 1.23-1.60]). CONCLUSION: The application of risk adjustment when comparing nursing care quality is crucial and enables a more objective assessment across hospitals or wards with heterogeneous patient populations. This approach has potential to establish a set of benchmarks that could allow comparison of outcomes and quality of nursing care between different hospitals and wards.

Validation of the instrument "Complexity of Nursing Care"-A mixed-methods study.

Aims: This study aimed to psychometrically test the instrument "Complexity of Nursing Care" and to broaden the understanding of the instrument's psychometrics and applicability. Design: Embedded mixed-methods design. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study assessing all stationary patients of five Swiss hospitals daily for up to 5 days with the instrument "Complexity of Nursing Care" over a 1-month period in 2015. The scale's psychometrics were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling. In the qualitative study section, we completed 12 case studies and analysed them case-wise and across cases. Quantitative and qualitative results were synthesized in tables. Results: Structural equation modelling confirmed a reflective-formative second-order model of the instrument with good psychometric properties leading to a formula for the calculation of a complexity score. Qualitative results evolved descriptions of low and high extent of complexity. Narrative considerations of two raters deepened the understanding of the inter-rater reliability.

Advancement of the German version of the moral distress scale for acute care nurses-A mixed methods study.

AIM: Moral distress experienced by nurses in acute care hospitals can adversely impact the affected nurses, their patients and their hospitals; therefore, it is advisable for organizations to establish internal monitoring of moral distress. However, until now, no suitable questionnaire has been available for use in German-speaking contexts. Hence, the aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a German-language version of the Moral Distress Scale. DESIGN: We chose a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, followed by a second quantitative cross-sectional survey. METHODS: An American moral distress scale was chosen, translated, culturally adapted, tested in a pilot study and subsequently used in 2011 to conduct an initial web-based quantitative cross-sectional survey of nurses in all inpatient units at five hospitals in Switzerland's German-speaking region. Data were analysed descriptively and via a Rasch analysis. In 2012, four focus group interviews were conducted with 26 nurses and then evaluated using knowledge maps. The results were used to improve the questionnaire. In 2015, using the revised German-language instrument, a second survey and Rasch analysis were conducted. RESULTS: The descriptive results of the first survey's participants (n = 2153; response rate: 44%) indicated that moral distress is a salient phenomenon in Switzerland. The data from the focus group interviews and the Rasch analysis produced information valuable for the questionnaire's further development. Alongside the data from the second survey's participants (n = 1965; response rate: 40%), the Rasch analysis confirmed the elimination of previous deficiencies on its psychometrics. A Rasch-scaled German version of the Moral Distress Scale is now available for use.