Overworked Nurses: More Fatal Than Coronavirus
Standing
Graduate (Masters)
Type of Proposal
Oral Research Presentation
Challenges Theme
Open Challenge
Faculty
Faculty of Nursing
Faculty Sponsor
Kate Kemplin
Proposal
Nurses compose over one third of the healthcare workforce. This year, more than 250,000 people will die in North America from medical errors, making it the third leading cause of death. Fatigue and burnout contribute significantly to medical errors and patient safety, and nurses are front-line professionals who are best poised to prevent these fatal events. However, the impact of nurses’ shift lengths and workload measurements are poorly understood despite directly affecting patient safety and overall mortality. We conducted an analysis of the statistical methods that are used by researchers to examine connections between nurses’ shift lengths and patient safety. We found weaknesses in the research methodologies such as poor precision and inattention to statistical rigour. Our academic appraisal of the statistics regarding shift length and patient safety revealed that health care authorities may be following inaccurate recommendations. To help build viable and healthy communities for all, we will present recommendations for analyzing statistical methods that are robust and reliable. This will assist health authorities to critically evaluate research recommendations, ensuring nursing shift length related to patient safety is appropriately studied.
Overworked Nurses: More Fatal Than Coronavirus
Nurses compose over one third of the healthcare workforce. This year, more than 250,000 people will die in North America from medical errors, making it the third leading cause of death. Fatigue and burnout contribute significantly to medical errors and patient safety, and nurses are front-line professionals who are best poised to prevent these fatal events. However, the impact of nurses’ shift lengths and workload measurements are poorly understood despite directly affecting patient safety and overall mortality. We conducted an analysis of the statistical methods that are used by researchers to examine connections between nurses’ shift lengths and patient safety. We found weaknesses in the research methodologies such as poor precision and inattention to statistical rigour. Our academic appraisal of the statistics regarding shift length and patient safety revealed that health care authorities may be following inaccurate recommendations. To help build viable and healthy communities for all, we will present recommendations for analyzing statistical methods that are robust and reliable. This will assist health authorities to critically evaluate research recommendations, ensuring nursing shift length related to patient safety is appropriately studied.