Nursing workload in intensive care units: a study using the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 (TISS-28)

The Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 (TISS-28) is an instrument that has been used to measure severity of illness and nursing workload in intensive care units (ICUs).

To characterize the severity of illness and nursing workload using the TISS-28 in 11 ICUs of a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

In a prospective study, data were collected from 271 patients admitted to the ICUs in December 2000 and the patients were followed up for 1 week.

Most of the patients were males (60.0%) and their mean age was 51(+20.6) years. Surgical treatment (66.8%) and admissions from the operating room were predominant. The mortality rate was 25.0% and the average length of stay was 7.7 (+10.4) days. The mean TISS-28 score was 23 (range: 14-32 points). The lowest mean score was observed for patients from the Burn ICU and the highest mean score was obtained for patients from the Liver Transplant ICU. A change in TISS-28 scores was observed in the same ICU over the 7-day study period. Units differed in terms of severity of illness and nursing workload. Patients who died received a higher TISS-28 score than patients who survived (p=0.00). As the nursing staff are the largest economic investment in an ICU, so measuring nursing workload in different ICUs from different centres can contribute to the estimation of nursing staff required according to the specific demands of the units.