A prospective longitudinal cohort study of the association between nurses' subjective and objective workload

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Occupational Health
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Critical care nurses face significant workloads due to patient acuity and treatment complexity.
• Understanding factors influencing subjective workload is crucial for nurse retention and well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify subjective and objective workload among critical care nurses in a Swiss ICU.
• To investigate the relationship between objective and subjective workload measures.

Main Methods:

• Prospective longitudinal cohort study involving 60 critical care nurses over 765 shifts.
• Subjective workload assessed using the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work 2.0 (QEEW2.0).
• Objective workload measured by Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 (TISS-28), NEMS, SGI-categories, and Patient-to-Nurse Ratio (PNR).

Main Results:

• Nurses reported high mental load (66±26), moderate work pace/amount (30±25), and physical load (33±25).
• Objective workload measures showed positive associations with subjective work pace, amount, physical, and mental load, but not emotional-moral load.
• Baseline subjective workload was higher than day-to-day values.

Conclusions:

• Objective workload metrics partially correlate with critical care nurses' subjective experiences.
• Nursing management must prioritize understanding and mitigating subjective workload to improve nurse retention.