Investigating missed care by nursing aides in Taiwanese long-term care facilities

(a) To identify the frequencies and reasons for missed care by nursing aides in long-term care facilities and (b) to clarify the correlation between missed care and the characteristics of nursing aides and facilities.

Missed care by nursing aides in long-term care facilities affects the resident's quality of care and, therefore, requires attention.

A cross-sectional study was conducted, wherein 184 nursing aides and 80 registered nurses were recruited from 10 long-term care facilities.

(a) The most frequently missed item of care by nursing aides was assistance with body cleaning (30.4%). (b) Among all participants, 90.2%, 89.8% and 64% indicated poor communication, labour shortages and material resource insufficiencies, respectively, as the reason for missed care. (c) Participants who perceived staff to be insufficient missed care tasks more frequently than those who perceived staff to be sufficient (p < .05).

Missed handover and insufficient nursing aides on duty were identified as the primary reasons for missed care.

Handover as a nursing process should be improved to promote accuracy and continuity. Flexibility in human resources should be maintained to respond adequately to resident's emergencies, thereby ensuring effective completion of the job.