Patient Acuity in Somatic In-patient Care

NCT ID: NCT06035705

Last Updated: 2025-04-10

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Total Enrollment

250 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-09-30

Study Completion Date

2026-09-30

Brief Summary

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This study addresses nursing acuity measures within somatic in-patient care. Quantitative and qualitative analyses will be used in order to examine staffing levels and nurses' perception of work environment, before, during and after the implementation of a patient acuity tool as a part of daily management.

Detailed Description

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Nurses' work environment is associated with both quality of care and organizational outcomes. There is a clear relationship between nurse staffing and both patient outcomes and nurses' perception of work environment. The severity of patients' illness is not sufficient for making nurse assignment decisions. One benchmark of staffing is valid measurement of patient acuity (patients' nursing care needs). Patient acuity measures offer a potential for real-time matching of patient demand for nursing care. It is defined as a measure of the severity of illness and the nursing care needs, complexity, and workload required to provide care to a patient or group of patients.

There is a limited amount of research that examine the process of making direct nurse staffing deicions in relation to patient acuity. By examining staffing levels and nurses' perception of work environment in relation to measured patient acuity, we hope to contribute to this field.

The overall aim of this research project is to examine patient-acuity measures as a part of daily management, as being introduced to five wards within the somatic in-patient care in Gävleborg County, Sweden in autumn 2023. The studies will focus on staffing levels in relation to the patient acuity scores and on nurses' perception of work environment, both before, during and after the start of the new work procedures, but also on a weekly basis, related to the acuity scores of the actual work shift.

Data will be collected before, 6 months, and12 months after the implementation of patient acuity measures, using a web-based survey that reaches all the nursing staff at the wards. Data will be analysed with descriptive and inference statistics to explore if the novel work process has brought differences of different asopects related to the nurses' work environment such as their well-being and perception of stress. As a reference, the same procedures will be carried out at two wards that haven't implemented patient acuity measures.

Patient-acuity measures will be collected two times a day (morning and evening shifts) from each of the five wards. Once a week, all nurses working at a particular shift will be asked to make a short estimation (through a paper-based form) of their perception of the work environment during that particular shift. These estimations with single item-measures will be compared with the patient acuity and actual staffing during the shift. An index will be used to compare staffing and patient acuity in the five wards.

Furthermore, semi-structured interviews with four nurses' and the manager from each ward will be conducted with the same time intervals as the web-based surveys. Results will be analysed with content analysis.

Conditions

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Work Related Stress

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

CASE_ONLY

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Interventions

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Patient acuity tool

A tool for measuring patient acuity as a part of daily management will be implemented in four somatic in-patient care units.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* All nurses employed by the medical wards
* First-line managers at each ward

Exclusion Criteria

* Travelling nurses
* Nurses with \<1 months employment
Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of Gavle

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Region Gävleborg

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

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Region Gävleborg

Gävle, , Sweden

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Sweden

Central Contacts

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Karin Myrberg, PhD

Role: CONTACT

+46702857513

Maria Engström, Prof

Role: CONTACT

Facility Contacts

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Karin Myrberg

Role: primary

004626157848

References

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Brennan CW, Daly BJ. Methodological challenges of validating a clinical decision-making tool in the practice environment. West J Nurs Res. 2015 Apr;37(4):536-45. doi: 10.1177/0193945914539738. Epub 2014 Jun 18.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 24948588 (View on PubMed)

Engstrom M, Martensson G, Palsson Y, Stromberg A. What relationships can be found between nurses' working life and turnover? A mixed-methods approach. J Nurs Manag. 2022 Jan;30(1):288-297. doi: 10.1111/jonm.13494. Epub 2021 Nov 7.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 34643314 (View on PubMed)

Debergh DP, Myny D, Van Herzeele I, Van Maele G, Reis Miranda D, Colardyn F. Measuring the nursing workload per shift in the ICU. Intensive Care Med. 2012 Sep;38(9):1438-44. doi: 10.1007/s00134-012-2648-3. Epub 2012 Aug 9.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 22875336 (View on PubMed)

Eastman D, Kernan K. A New Patient Acuity Tool to Support Equitable Patient Assignments in a Progressive Care Unit. Crit Care Nurs Q. 2022 Jan-Mar 01;45(1):54-61. doi: 10.1097/CNQ.0000000000000388.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 34818298 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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280936

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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