Structure of nurses’ work in hospital casualty and emergency wards – preliminary study

Abstract

Introduction. Working time is one of the basic factors conditioning the achievement of objectives and the completion of tasks by an institution. Consequently, changes should be effected to enhance the effectiveness of work and to promote rational human resources management. For this to happen, it is necessary to analyze the structure of tasks performed by nurses as well as the way in which time at work is spent.

The aim of this study was to determine work structure and the structure of tasks performed by divisional nurses in a hospital emergency ward.

Material and method. The study was carried out at an emergency ward in one of the teaching hospitals in Lublin. Employed methods were those of measuring working time, and the technique was continuous observation (photographing of working day). There were 7 twelve-hour sessions, both night and day, giving 84 hours of observation and 1,144 entries for performed tasks. A statistical analysis of the material was carried out; the χ² test was used to determine the interdependence of variables. The result of p<0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Results and conclusions. It has been observed that direct nursing care amounts to 39.51% of general working time at an emergency ward, while indirect nursing care to 42.83%. Coordination and current management of work took 13.9% of the time, while 3.76% was devoted to breaks, personal matters or idleness. In direct nursing care, the greatest amount of time was devoted to diagnostic and therapeutic activities, which was consistent with the specificity of emergency nursing.