ArticlePracticeNursing workload in the acute-care setting: A concept analysis of nursing workload
Section snippets
Method
Rogers' Evolutionary Method was used for this literature-based concept analysis to assess nursing workload in acute-care hospital settings. The steps included in this method are (a) identifying the concept and its synonyms, (b) selecting a setting, (c) collecting information, (d) analyzing the findings, (e) examining an exemplar, and (f) discussing implications of the concept in nursing. The evolutionary method is useful for this concept analysis because of the dynamic nature of workload, the
Identifying the Concept
Rogers' method encourages recognition of how concepts evolve over time, and therefore we begin with a brief discussion of the history of this concept (Rogers & Knafl, 2000). The term “workload” began emerging as a concept of study in the late 1930s when the Fair Labor Standards Act was implemented. These laws limited the length of the work week, increased minimum wage, and ended child labor. Because of these changes, supervisors needed to know how much idle time the workers had to maximize the
Definitions and Synonyms in Nursing
Definitions of nursing workload often discuss the amount of time it takes to complete tasks that must be carried out during a given time (Morris et al., 2007, Myny et al., 2011). Myny et al. (2011) best captured the definition of nursing workload presented by Needham (1997) as “the time taken to carry out ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ care as well as other activities, including ward and organization management” (p. 2110); this definition considers that the concept is comprised of more factors than
Discussion
The goal of this concept analysis was to examine workload in an acute-care setting using Rogers' evolutionary method. The findings were analyzed by identifying the concept in both a historical and a nursing-specific context. The analysis of workload within the acute-care hospital setting was presented in four steps which illustrate the complex nature of workload in the acute-care setting by highlighting the variation in workload definitions and measurement. In addition, the way nurses spend
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, for insight and continued support throughout article development.
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