| Missed nursing care in the acute hospital setting is care left undone. Omitted, missing and even rationed care, are not new concepts in nursing practice. However, in 2006 Dr. Beatrice Kalisch formally identified the type of care that is regularly missed in acute general hospital units and the reasons missed nursing care occurs. Missed nursing care is a problem for nursing and healthcare because it may lead to negative patient and staff outcomes which may result in harm. The purpose of the research was to understand missed nursing care from a telemetry nurse's perspective to learn how it continues to occur. A descriptive, case study design allowed for a comprehensive review of the phenomenon within a specific patient care setting where health information, communication, and care technologies are used by nurses to deliver patient care. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) environmental conditions may contribute to missed nursing care; (b) the effects of changing nursing workflows on nurses' time have not been identified; (c) nursing staff performance may be a contributing and a mitigating factor for missed nursing care; and (d) use of technology resources may mitigate missed nursing care. Recommendations regarding missed nursing care include educating front line staff about the phenomenon, assessing the type and frequency of events in individual practice settings, examining nursing workflows and workload, and assessing the dual role that teamwork has as a contributing and mediating factor for missed nursing care. |
