The following is a summary of “Multicentre cross-sectional study to assess nursing workload in Belgian emergency departments,” published in the February 2025 issue of Emergency Medicine Journal by Ganty et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify a simpler method for assessing nursing workload in emergency departments (EDs) compared to the complex WANE scale.
They assessed nursing workload in 4 Belgian EDs from September 2022 to March 2023 using the Workload Assessment of Nurses on Emergency (WANE) scale over 4-hour time periods. The analysis involved examining the relationships between WANE scores and factors such as nurses’ subjective workload evaluations, the number of patients, patient triage levels, post-triage destinations, and the Jones Dependency Tool Score, applying multiple linear regression models to these variables.
The results showed that 161 nurses caring for 591 patients were included. A model incorporating triage level and 2 items from the Jones Dependency Tool (ABC perturbation and mobility) explained 67% of the variation in ‘direct’ care time. The TNCT was strongly linked to the number of new patient admissions and nurses’ perceived workload. The number of patients in the ED accounted for 78% of the variation in TNCT. For each additional patient, TNCT increased by 45.22 minutes.
Investigators concluded that simple indicators, including the total number of patients over a defined period, could be used to evaluate nursing care time in Belgian EDs and predict direct care time with 3 accessible indicators from the nursing triage stage.
Source: emj.bmj.com/content/early/2025/02/12/emermed-2024-214334.long
