Comparing the Two Techniques for Nursing Staff Rescheduling to Streamline Nurse Managers' Daily Work in Finland

Technological innovation for workload allocation in nursing care management: an integrative review

Background

Technology reduces the nursing workload, improve the quality care processes, patient's safety, and avoid staff burnout. Innovative technologies are disrupting healthcare systems by improving the efficiency of processes and management. There is a discussion on the benefits, challenges, and barriers of these technologies and considering human factors of nursing management. The aim was to analyze the influence of technologies on the distribution of workload for nursing care management.

Methods

An integrative literature review was performed. Four databases were searched: Scopus, Scielo, PUBMED, and CINALH following PRISMA guidelines. Articles published from January 2016 to December 2020, published in English, Spanish and Portuguese were included. Studies were excluded when they were not original research, did not met the quality criteria or they did not answer the research questions. Quality appraisal was performed using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool version 1.4 (CCAT). Two reviewers independently examined the title and abstract for eligibility according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results

2818 potentially relevant articles were found, but once the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the abstracts were analyzed, 177 remained for evaluation. After following the PRISMA Guidelines, 35 studies were included in the review. Three categories were identified: Nursing workload; Information technologies and technological means for management; Technology acceptance.

Conclusions

Technology has the potential to improve care management by estimating nurse workload in ICUs and non-critical units, but scientific evidence is more detailed in the former type of services. The literature provides insights about the factors that factors and the barriers that promote the technology acceptance and usability. We did not find studies comparing technologies and no scientific evidence proving improvements in care.

Identifying work-related factors associated with work-family conflict of care workers in nursing homes: A cross-sectional study

AIMS

To investigate which work-related factors are associated with work-family conflict of care workers in nursing homes, this study aimed to: (a) describe the prevalence of work-family conflict of care workers in nursing homes and (b) assess the association of work-related factors with work-family conflict.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional multicentre sub-study based on data from the Swiss Nursing Homes Human Resources Project 2018.

METHODS

Data were collected between September 2018 and October 2019. Work-family conflict of care workers was assessed with the Work-Family Conflict Scale (range 1-5). Prevalence was described in percentages. We used multilevel linear regression to assess the association of time-based factors (working overtime or during one's free time, employment percentage, presenteeism, shift working) and strain-based factors (staffing adequacy, leadership support) with work-family conflict.

RESULTS

Our study sample consisted of 4324 care workers working in a total of 114 nursing homes. Overall, 31.2% of respondents stated to have experienced work-family conflict (>3.0 on the Work-Family Conflict Scale). The overall mean score of the study sample for work-family conflict was 2.5. Care workers experiencing presenteeism 10 or more days per year showed the highest scores for work-family conflict (mean: 3.1). All included predictor variables were significant (p < .05).

CONCLUSION

Work-family conflict is multifactorial. Possible intervention points to tackle work-family conflict could be strengthening care workers' influence in planning work schedules, enabling flexible planning to ensure adequate staffing, lowering presenteeism and implementing a supportive leadership style.

IMPACT

Care workers' jobs become less desirable when workplace demands interfere with family life. This study highlights the multifaceted nature of work-family conflict and suggests intervention options to prevent care workers from experiencing work-family conflict. Action is needed at nursing home and policy level.

Investigation of the causes and effects of stress in nurses working 'floating shifts'

BACKGROUND

Nurses working in hospitals may occasionally be reassigned to other wards for various reasons, for example to cover sudden absences or to support heavier-than-usual workloads. This practice is known as 'floating shifts'.

AIM

To assess how nurses are affected by the stress of working floating shifts, to understand what causes and alleviates this stress and to identify strategies that can be used to reduce stress.

METHOD

A cross-sectional research study which used an online survey.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 1,334 nurses in nine Finnish hospitals. Of these respondents, 63% (n=846) had worked floating shifts. Data analysis showed that having worked floating shifts in the past 12 months was not associated with increased reports of ongoing stress. However, respondents identified factors that they found stressful during floating shifts, such as the lack of a work partner.

CONCLUSION

Nurse managers should consider how floating shifts are administered so that nurses feel supported when working on a different ward or unit. Nurse managers can greatly influence nurses' ability to manage floating shifts.

The Heuristic Algorithm Optimization of Home Care Path Based on the Internet of Things Realizes Connected Medical Care

Optimize the scheduling problem of family nursing staff according to the actual needs of the customers, combined with the psychological behavior characteristics of the participants, and use the path heuristic algorithm on home nursing service institutions, full-time nursing staff, and nursing customers. Taking this as the maximization of the three subjects as the ultimate goal of home caregiver optimization and scheduling, a path heuristic-based heuristic optimization and scheduling method (path heuristic algorithm, PHA). The effectiveness of this method is analyzed through examples, and finally, according to the experimental analysis results of the distribution, dominance, and convergence of the proposed PHA algorithm, the home caregiver optimization and scheduling method proposed in this paper can provide a more long-term scheduling method for enterprise companies.