Registered Nurses Assignment-Workload for Teaching Hospitals in Kenya: Utilizing the Research Brief with Annotated Bibliography Approach.

Abstract

Nursing is important in quality and safety of hospital care and in patients' perceptions of their care. There seems to be a close association between patient safety, undergraduate nursing students' learning with nurse staffing levels in Kenya. The Ministry of Health as well as the Ministry of education does not yet support changing nurse workforce standards for teaching medical institutions. This research brief targeted the nursing units of two teaching hospitals in Kenya. Purpose:  There are a lot on staffing issues in research that could be applied in Kenya and nurses might be interested in a staff-understandable review of what has been researched.  This brief sought to: establish the relationship between nurse workload and nurse-sensitive patient safety outcome indicators. This review focuses on the staffing issue on the effect of workload on patient outcomes or staff outcomes. The search spanned period of between 2003 and 2013. Conclusion: Nurse managers ought to implement staffing processes that align staff skills and competencies with prioritized patient needs supported on a shift-to-shift basis. A fair and balanced patient assignment increases nurse satisfaction in their daily work.

Keywords: Nursing ratios, RN workload, Patient safety, Research brief, RN assignment, Kenyan nurses