Relationship of nurses’ mental workload with patient safety condition in emergency departments of Qom University of Medical Sciences Hospitals, 2017

Patient safety observance is one of the most important components of care provision quality and nurses are the most effective groups of human resources to provide the services. One of the most important factors of nurses' efficiency is their workload. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between nurses’ workload and patient safety condition in emergency departments of Qom University of Medical Sciences Hospitals in 2017. This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted by the participation of 150 nurses and 300 patients who were selected through using non-random sampling method. The NASA-TLX workload questionnaire and the safety observation questionnaire of emergency patients were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and statistical tests (independent T-test, ANOVA, Pearson and linear regression). The significance level in all tests was considered as p<0.05. Nurses' workload mean was 63.99±13/87 that was high and the mean of patient safety observance was 32.64±5/19 that was moderate. The correlation between nursing workload and patient safety observance was reversed and significant (p<0/05). In the evening shift, patient safety observance was higher. There was a significant relationship between marital status and the number of children of nurses with patient safety observance (p<0/05). The age of the patient had a significant and reversed relationship with patient safety observance (p<0/001). Increasing the emergency nurses’ workload reduces patient safety observance in these departments. To improve the condition of patient safety observance, measures such as proper planning of the workforce in the emergency department by managers should be taken to reduce the nurses’ workload.