Painting a picture of nurse presenteeism: A multi-country integrative review

Abstract

Aim: To conduct a review of the impact of presenteeism as it relates to the nursing workforce.

Background: Presenteeism behaviour has been researched in the broader workforce across multiple industries including business/management, public health and occupational health. Presenteeism in nursing is particularly significant because it puts patients at risk by reducing the capacity of nurses to provide high quality care. Rates of presenteeism are particularly high in the nursing workforce and the impact of nurse presenteeism needs to be further examined and explored.

Design: An integrative review of the associated literature.

Methods: Online databases were searched for research related to presenteeism in the nursing workforce. Original primary research investigating presenteeism in the nursing workforce, in all clinical settings, in the English language and published between 2006 and 2018 were included.

Results: A total of 17 studies fit the inclusion criteria and were included in this review: 16 quantitative and 1 qualitative. Five categories emerged from the data synthesis process: 1) the prevalence of presenteeism, 2) the economic cost of presenteeism, 3) presenteeism and related health conditions, 4) presenteeism and nurse well-being, and 5) presenteeism and patient safety.

Conclusion: The scale and impact of presenteeism is rarely explicitly discussed. Further research is needed to investigate the link between presenteeism, nurse well-being quality of patient care and costs in the nursing sector.

Keywords: Economic cost; Integrative review; Nurse; Patient safety; Presenteeism; Prevalence; Productivity; Well-being.