Nursing at dawn. Nursing tasks in the first hour of the morning shift in a German hospital.
Nurses' working hours are known to be one reason for high wastage rates. The early start of work seems to be particularly difficult. The aim of the present study was to examine which nursing tasks were performed during the time from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. The study was conducted in a general hospital in Germany where such an early start of work is still common practice. An activity analysis was carried out using non-participant observation. One surgical and one medical ward were used for comparison. The work on the wards was differently organized. The observed tasks were classified into direct care, indirect care, administrative, and other tasks. The distribution of these task categories over one hour and the percentage of time spent on these categories were compared. Both wards showed different working patterns and a different form of initiation of direct care (entering patients' rooms). Some possible reasons for these findings are offered and suggestions for further research are made.
Bauer
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D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D009732:Nursing Care; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009738:Nursing Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D010362:Patients' Rooms / Q000458:organization & administration; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance