Routinization in Nursing Care: An Integrated Review

There is growing evidence that routinization in nursing care is a concerning issue that directly affects the quality of nursing care and nurses' ability to be creative and innovative in care, flexibility, and ability to provide individualized care, and comprehensiveness in care at the global level. This study aimed to identify factors associated with routinization in nursing care.

The method of Whittemore and Knafl was employed to conduct this integrated review, which consisted of five stages: identification and determination of the purpose, search for sources, data evaluation, data analysis, and results presentation. Evidence search was conducted using the keywords nursing care, routine, routines, routinization, and their Persian equivalents separately or in combination using the AND and OR operators in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Scopus, SID, Medex, Magiran, and IranDoc from the beginning to October 2024. After screening and checking for eligibility, the articles were evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute's critical appraisal tools.

A total of 23 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. The most important factors affecting routinization were categorized into 4 categories: individual factors, organizational factors, communication factors, and patient-related factors.

The results of this study indicate the need for critical interventions to address factors that can influence routinization in nursing care. Overall, studies highlight the complexity and dependence of routinization in care on various factors, including workload, work environment, and nurse characteristics.