A New Perspective on Missed Nursing Care in the Emergency Department: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction

This descriptive cross-sectional study describes missed nursing care, quality of care, and patient safety rated by nursing staff in emergency departments. Required patient care that is omitted or delayed (missed nursing care) is associated with poorer quality of care and increased risk for adverse events, but studies are scarce in the emergency setting.

Methods

Emergency registered nurses and nursing assistants (N=126) at 2 Swedish emergency departments participated in the study. The MISSCARE survey–Swedish version was used for data collection.

Results

Emergency nursing staff assessed that nursing care is frequently missed in the emergency department. More than half of the 24 nursing care items were reported as missed by over 50% of the participants, and registered nurses rated most items significantly higher compared to nursing assistants. Half of the nursing staff perceived quality of care to be good, but nearly the same proportion perceived patient safety as poor. Registered nurses viewed both quality and safety worse than nursing assistants.

Discussion

The present study found very high levels of missed nursing care in most nursing items. Results indicate that nursing staff in emergency departments need to prioritize between the tasks and that some tasks may not be relevant in the context. The emergency setting focuses primarily on identifying signs of urgency, assessing patients, performing interventions, and diagnostics. However, even items that seemed to be prioritized, such as reassessment of vital signs, had a surprisingly high level of missed nursing care in comparison to in-hospital wards.