Performance shaping features of intermediate care nursing workload

This $272,964 federal Project Grant award, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (CFDA 93.225 - National Research Service Awards Health Services Research Training), supports a mixed-methods research study to identify performance shaping features that impact nursing workload in intermediate care units. The grantee, The Johns Hopkins University, will conduct qualitative assessments using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework to identify factors that amplify or decrease workload for intermediate care nurses. They will then quantify the association between these factors and perceived nursing workload using the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) survey. The study aims to provide insights into managing intermediate care delivery and will generate preliminary data for a future K23 research proposal. The award has a performance period from December 2024 to June 2025.

Abstract

This is a resubmission (original december 2022). Work on SA1 and didactic training is underway. Demand for intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the united states is high and frequently exceeds supply. This leads to delays or denials of ICU admission, which are associated with increases in patient morbidity and mortality. In over 60% of US hospitals, intermediate care (i.e., step-down care, progressive care) is an alternative to intensive care for some patients. While the organization, provider staffing models, and monitoring and interventions available in intermediate care units (imcus) varies, a consistent feature distinguishing intensive care, intermediate care, and acute ward care is the nurse-to-patient ratio (NPR). Whereas the standard NPR in the ICU is 1:1 or 1:2, IT is usually 1:3 in imcus, and 1:5 or 1:6 on acute care wards. These different ratios reflect an assumption that intermediate care is associated with less workload per patient than ICU patients, and more than ward patients. However, there are concerns that nurse workload in some models of intermediate care exceeds that of ICU nurses. Importantly, excessive workload is tightly linked to increased patient morbidity and mortality, low nurse job satisfaction and high burnout. IT is essential to understand what features of intermediate care nursing work modify (e.g., amplify or decrease) workload in different models of intermediate care. In this mixed methods proposal, we will conduct in-depth qualitative assessments to identify performance shaping features (psfs) of intermediate care nursing work. These qualitative assessments are guided by the systems engineering initiative for patient safety (seips) conceptual framework, a well- established human factors engineering approach, to guide ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups of intermediate care nurses to identify psfs that amplify or decrease nursing work. We will then conduct a quantitative assessment to characterize the strength of association between these psfs and perceived nursing workload among intermediate care nurses in the johns hopkins health system (jhhs). Perceived nursing workload will be measured using the national aeronautics and space administration task load index (NASA-TLX), a short (< 5 minute) and well validated measure (in many work systems including nursing) of perceived workload. This proposed research and training, including didactic instruction in statistics, epidemiology, human factors engineering, qualitative methods, and survey design will provide the applicant with the experience and skill needed to continue his professional goal of becoming an independent investigator studying intermediate and critical care delivery within health systems. These findings will provide important insight into planning and supervising this level of care and will provide preliminary data for a planned K23 proposal to be submitted in his fourth year of fellowship.