Abstract
To contribute to the proper stationing of ward nurses, nursing workloads were investigated with the time study method for 24 hours. The subjects were 163 nurses working in the hospital wards of Showa University at each work shift : night duty, day service, and semi-night duty. Next, the nursing level (ability) of each nurse was determined with a questionnaire of clinical nursing practice level (clinical ladder assessment) used at Showa University Hospital. The relation between the workload of each nurse and nursing level was investigated. We found that the most time was spent on“observation”and“communication”for all lengths of employment.
The average ladder assessment scores of clinical nursing practice tasks of ward nursing staff were higher with longer employment, but the average assessment scores were quite low overall. In particular, scores for“research”were low for all lengths of employment.
Multiple regression analysis of assessment scores of clinical nursing practice classified by item and T-SCOREs of nursing workload classified by length of employment showed that T-SCOREs were lower and the time spent on work was less. The assessment scores for management, education, and research were higher when the length of employment was less than 3 years.
Conversely, more time was spent on work as assessment scores increased. Furthermore, when we examined nurses who had been employed for 3 to 5 years, the time spent on work decreased as scores for project planning increased. Conversely, the time spent on work increased as assessment scores for nursing practice planning increased. Furthermore, as with education and management, nurses who had higher scores had higher workloads. The finding that scores for project planning were higher demonstrates that the project planning score can be used as an index of the ability to determine the priority and urgency of problems, and to use social resources. Therefore, we suggest that effectively performing the proper stationing will contribute to the reduction of workload.
