Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Observational Study Protocol for Repeated Clinical Examination and Critical Care Ultrasonography Within the Simple Intensive Care Studies
Published on: January 16, 2019
Nursing workload and staff allocation in an intensive care unit: a pilot study according to Nursing Activities Score
Katia Grillo Padilha1, Regina Márcia Cardoso de Sousa, Paulo Carlos Garcia
1School of Nursing, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. kgpadilh@usp.br
Objectives:
The objectives of the study were to identify the daily nursing workload in an intensive care unit (ICU) and to analyse the adequacy of nursing staff in a six hour shift according to the Nursing Activities Score (NAS).
Method:
The sample consisted of 68 patients from a general 25-bed adult ICU in a private hospital with 250 beds in São Paulo, Brazil. The nursing workload of all patients admitted in the ICU over a one month period in 2004 were measured daily according to the NAS. For the analysis of nursing staff it was considered the number of nurses available in a six hour shift. Data were submitted to descriptive analyses.
Results:
Most patients were elderly and remained on average 12 (+/-16.4) days in the ICU. The mean NAS was 63.7 (+/-2.4%) and remained above 58.5% throughout the month. Apart from the 16th day of data collection there was an excess of nursing professionals in a six hour shift during the study period (range from 0.8 to 4.8 professionals).
Conclusions:
The study results show the importance of nursing staff adequacy to workload fluctuations for reducing ICU costs.
Related Concept Videos
Planning Nursing Care I
Nursing Assessment
The nurse collects all aspects of the patient's health in the initial assessment, establishing priorities for ongoing focused assessments and...
Nursing Interventions II: Selecting and Classifying the Nursing Interventions
Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.
Nursing Clinical Information System
A Nursing Clinical Information System (NCIS) is a specialized type of healthcare information system tailored to meet the unique needs of nursing practice. It incorporates the principles of nursing informatics to streamline information management and improve the quality of care delivery.
Critical attributes of NCIS include:
Planning Nursing Care II