A study on nursing workload measurement based on relative value

Objective To test the applicability of the relative value used to measure Chinese nurses′ workload, and measure part of single workload of nursing procedures. Methods Time, physical effort, mental effort and medical risk were used as the four dimensions to evaluate nurses′ workload. Based on these dimensions, a set of questionnaires covering 117 common nursing procedures were designed and 58 nurses form 58 hospitals were surveyed. Establishing three different regulation modals, of which the applicability and stability were evaluated through the good of fit. Results Median of the relative value of different dimensions was used to indicate the average level of the various nursing procedures′ workload. The results showed that the median of relative value between 100 to 199 accounted for the largest share, up to 88.89% of 104 items. The median of relative value between 200 to 299 accounted for 7.69%(9 items). The median of relative value between 0 to 99(3 items)and more than 300(1 item)accounted for a small proportion. The lowest point of workload was blood pressure measuring, having a relative value of 90(70, 100) while the PICC catheterization accounted for the highest point of workload, being 370(200, 500) Three kinds of modals were valid(Model Ⅰ, F=10 626.16, P<0.001; Model Ⅱ, F=17 108.22, P<0.001; Model Ⅲ: F=6 694.16, P<0.001), while the good of fit of these regulation modals was between 0.8 to 0.9. Time, physical effort, mental effort and iatrogenic risk were the key variables of nurses′ workload. Conclusions The applicability of the relative value to measure nurses′ workload is fairly satisfactory, and the relative value points based on multi-dimension will enjoy a promising future. Key words: Nursing care; Workload; Measurement; Relative value; Questionnaire survey