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Review
. 2021 Feb;37(2):82-91.
doi: 10.1002/kjm2.12308. Epub 2020 Oct 6.

Missed nursing care: An overview of reviews

Wendy Chaboyer  1 , Emma Harbeck  1 , Bih-O Lee  2 , Laurie Grealish  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Missed nursing care: An overview of reviews

Wendy Chaboyer et al. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Missed nursing care is care that is delayed, partially completed, or not completed at all. The aim of this overview of reviews was to identify the nursing care that is missed, the factors that influence missed nursing care and the outcomes from it. To be included, reviews had to use the systematic review process and focus on hospital care. Databases were searched from inception until August sixth, 2020. One author screened the papers and extracted data on included reviews and a second checked this. Two authors independently assessed the quality of the reviews. Seven reviews were included in this overview. Categories of care missed included: (a) communication and information sharing; (b) self-management, autonomy, and education including care planning, discharge planning and decision; (c) fundamental physical care; and (d) emotional and psychological care including spiritual support. Factors associated with missed care were related to staffing levels and/or labor resources skill mix, material resources not being available, patient acuity and teamwork/communication. Outcomes of missed nursing care included: less/poorer quality of patient care, patient satisfaction, and nurses' job satisfaction, increased patient adverse events, and the organizational outcomes of increasing hospital length of stay and hospital readmission. In-depth qualitative and mixed methods research is needed to better understand how nurses prioritize care and why care is missed. Longitudinal and experimental research is required to better clarify if these relationships between missed care and negative patient outcomes are likely cause and effect.

Keywords: errors of omission; missed care; nursing; patient safety; unmet nursing needs.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow diagram of the selection of publications for review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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