Nursing workload and staff allocation in an intensive care unit: a pilot study according to Nursing Activities Score (NAS).

摘要

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to identify the daily nursing workload in an intensive care unit (ICU) and to analyse the adequacy of nursing staff in a six hour shift according to the Nursing Activities Score (NAS). METHOD: The sample consisted of 68 patients from a general 25-bed adult ICU in a private hospital with 250 beds in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The nursing workload of all patients admitted in the ICU over a one month period in 2004 were measured daily according to the NAS. For the analysis of nursing staff it was considered the number of nurses available in a six hour shift. Data were submitted to descriptive analyses. RESULTS: Most patients were elderly and remained on average 12 (+/-16.4) days in the ICU. The mean NAS was 63.7 (+/-2.4%) and remained above 58.5% throughout the month. Apart from the 16th day of data collection there was an excess of nursing professionals in a six hour shift during the study period (range from 0.8 to 4.8 professionals). CONCLUSIONS: The study results show the importance of nursing staff adequacy to workload fluctuations for reducing ICU costs.