Nursing workload: influence of indirect care interventions

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Workload Analysis

Background:

• Indirect care interventions are crucial but often overlooked components of nursing workload.
• Understanding nurses' perceptions of these interventions is vital for optimizing resource allocation and team efficiency.
• Previous research has not fully explored the impact of specific indirect care activities on nursing workload in diverse Brazilian healthcare contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess how clinical nurses, unit managers, and service managers perceive the impact of indirect care interventions on nursing workload.
• To identify which indirect care interventions are perceived as most burdensome.
• To examine the relationship between these interventions and professional and institutional variables.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey was conducted via email with 151 nursing professionals across eight Brazilian states.
• Participants responded to a questionnaire detailing 28 indirect care interventions based on the Nursing Interventions Classification.
• Data analysis focused on perceived workload interference and associations with demographic and institutional factors.

Main Results:

• A low response rate of 14.8% was observed.
• The most workload-intensive indirect care interventions identified were: Preceptor: employee (M=3.2), Employee Development (M=3.1), Physician Support (M=3.0), and Conflict mediation (M=3.0).
• Significant associations were found between indirect care interventions and institutional variables such as legal nature and facility size.

Conclusions:

• Nurses perceive indirect care interventions as significantly impacting workload, with notable emphasis on employee-related tasks like monitoring and development.
• The influence of indirect care on workload is perceived differently across various practice settings.
• Findings highlight the need for targeted strategies to manage the workload associated with indirect care activities in nursing.