The Rate and Causes of Missed Nursing Care of COVID- 19 Hospitalized Patients in Intensive Care Units: A Multicenter Cross-sectional Study

The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis has unprecedented pressure to the health systems around the world. Missed nursing care as a care that is needed by the patient but is omitted affects the quality and safety of care. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate and causes of missed nursing care of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of Saqez and Diwandara hospitals.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2021 on 110 nurses working in the special care units for COVID-19. Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire and the Forgotten Care Questionnaires were used to collect information. Data were analyzed using STATA version 12 software and Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman's correlation coefficient tests.

The mean score of missed nursing care in ICUs for Covid-19 was 55.18 (20.24). The most common missed nursing care was controlling the patient's O2 saturation (18.75%) and recording the necessary information of patients (17.86%). The highest percentage of the factors related to missed nursing care was assigned to the lack of nursing staff (86.61%). The most common causes of neglected nursing care were lack of nursing staff (86.61%), lack of assistants or secretaries (74.77%), and the large volume of activities related to the admission and discharge of patients (67.66%).

A high percentage of nursing care in the special care units of Covid-19 is lost under the influence of factors such as the shortage of nursing staff and forced overtime working hours beyond the tolerance of nurses. Nursing managers can create appropriate interventions to support the professional role of nurses during the pandemic by considering related factors.