Factors affecting intensive care units nursing workload.
BACKGROUND
The nursing workload has a close and strong association with the quality of services provided for the patients. Therefore, paying careful attention to the factors affecting nursing workload, especially those working in the intensive care units (ICUs), is very important.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to determine the factors affecting nursing workload in the ICUs of the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional and analytical-descriptive study that has done in Iran. All nurses (n = 400) who was working in the ICUs of the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014 were selected and studied using census method. The required data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed through getting the opinions of experts and using composite reliability and internal consistency (α = 0.89). The collected data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0.


RESULTS
Twenty-five factors were divided into three major categories through EFA, including structure, process, and activity. The following factors among the structure, process and activity components had the greatest importance: lack of clear responsibilities and authorities and performing unnecessary tasks (by a coefficient of 0.709), mismatch between the capacity of wards and the number of patients (by a coefficient of 0.639), and helping the students and newly employed staff (by a coefficient of 0.589).


CONCLUSIONS
The nursing workload is influenced by many factors. The clear responsibilities and authorities of nurses, patients' admission according to the capacity of wards, use of the new technologies and equipment, and providing basic training for new nurses can decrease the workload of nurses.
Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Mohammadkarim
M
Bahadori
School of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
Ramin
R
Ravangard
Health Services Management Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IR Iran ; Students Scientific Research Center (SSRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Mehdi
M
Raadabadi
Hospital Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Seyed Masod
SM
Mosavi
Biostatistic Departmant, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IR Iran.
Mohammad
M
Gholami Fesharaki
School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, IR Iran.
Fardin
F
Mehrabian
Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Intensive Care Units; Iran; Nurses; Workload