Nursing workforce allocation in the intensive care units of COVID-19-designated hospitals: A nationwide cross-sectional survey in China.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To explore the nursing workforce allocation in intensive care units (ICUs) of COVID-19-designated hospitals during the epidemic peak in China. DESIGN: A nationwide cross-sectional online survey. METHODS: A total of 37 head nurses and 262 frontline nurses in 37 ICUs of COVID-19-designated tertiary hospitals located in 22 cities of China were surveyed. The self-reported human resource allocation questionnaire was used to assess the nursing workforce allocation. RESULTS: The average patient-to-nurse ratio was 1.89 ± 1.14, and the median working hours per shift was 5 h. The top four majors of front-line nurses in ICUs were respiratory (31.30%), lemology (27.86%), intensive care (21.76%) and emergency (17.18%). We also found that a smaller average patient-to-nurse ratio (odds ratio [OR] 0.328, 95% CI 0.108, 1.000), longer average weekly rest time per person (OR 0.193, 95% CI 0.051, 0.729) and larger proportion of 6-9 working years (OR 0.002, 95% CI 0.001, 1.121) decreased the occurrence of nursing adverse events.