Article On Missed Nursing Care

The authors of the article “Is Nursing Care Missed? A Comparative Study of Three North Carolina Hospitals” seek to “identify frequency and types of missed care as well as reasons for missed care in three acute care hospitals in North Carolina” (Maloney, S., Fencl, J., & Hardin, S. R., 2015, p. 231). The authors stated the importance of this matter because by decreasing the amount of missed nursing care, the quality of care would improve. Improved quality of nursing care would also improve patient satisfaction (Maloney et. al, 2015). If the most frequent types of missed nursing care and the reasons behind them are identified, hospitals and nurses can work to eliminate missed care altogether.

Hypothesis

There is no hypothesis directly stated

According to Houser, “ theoretical models are commonly tested with both quantitative and qualitative designs, and they provide a roadmap for future research” (Houser, 2015, p. 37). This article created a roadmap for future research by identifying what types of care were frequently missed, but it did not give a solution to the problem. The theory behind this research was that there is a “negative impact of missed nursing care on patient outcomes and subsequently on the economic health of the hospital because outcomes are tied to reimbursement” (Maloney et. al, 2015, p. 235). This theory was appropriate for this study because in order to prevent missed nursing care and the negative consequences, one must identify what types of nursing cares are being missed and why they are being

“Results of this indicate certain types of care are missed frequently or occasionally at the three study hospitals. Reasons, types, and frequencies of missed care are also similar among the hospitals” (Maloney et. al, 2015, p. 233). These results were generalized to cover all acute care hospitals. “Although percentages in this study varied somewhat for types of and reasons for missed care, results supported the generalization of findings form the MISSCARE Survey study in the Midwest to all acute care hospitals” (Maloney et. al, 2015, p. 234). These conclusions were supported by the data that were presented in the tables. The data “are consistent with those from the 10-hospital MISSCARE Survey study in the Midwest” (Maloney et. al, 2015, p. 234). Based off these results, the authors made recommendations for future research. “MISSCARE Surveys of North Carolina hospitals owned and operated by differing health care systems who provide additional support” (Maloney et. al. 2015, p. 234). The same healthcare provider owned all three hospitals in the study (Maloney et. al, 2015). This may have skewed the results because these hospitals are all operated in the same manner. Lastly, the authors suggested nursing implications for the nursing practice based off the results of the study. “Interventions implemented to reduce missed care may include strategies to improve communication with other