PAS Presentations
Dellefield, M., & Harrington, C. (2007, Nov 17) Improving Quality: Work Sampling of Registered Nurse Work Activities. Poster.. Presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Gerontological Society of America hosted by The Gerontological Society of America.
Summary
The Veterans Administration (VA) sponsors nursing home care in various ways. Registered nurse (RN) work activities contribute to quality in these settings. RNs provide essential supervision and management to the predominantly paraprofessional NH staff. RNs are responsible for the clinical assessments of NH residents and related documentation. Work sampling is a direct observation methodology used in many industries. Increased understanding of RN work activities and a more precise measurement methodology of these activities will contribute to improved research studies of RN effectiveness and NH quality.
Objectives:
- Develop instruments for 6 domains of care, categorizing each as direct or indirect work;
- Program the instruments to PDAs;
- Develop and implement a data collector training program;
- Test the data collection methodology; and
- Describe the percentage distributions of RN time in each domain.
Methods: This is a descriptive study using work sampling and PDAs. Two VA-sponsored NHs located in San Diego county are being used.Data collection is ongoing. 14 RNs are enrolled as subjects.
Results: 2,200 observations have been collected. A 90% inter-rater reliability has been demonstrated. RN work activites vary according to the nursing staff skill mix. The majority of RN time is spent in indirect work activities, including documentation and limited supervision/management activities.
Conclusion: This data collection methodology is feasible for use in future studies.
Benefits and Learning Objectives: To describe the development and implementation of a work sampling instrument using a hand-held computer in VA-sponsored nursing homes