NEWS
BARNEY NEWMAN
Malawi clinicians praise VSO work
VSO staff and delegates from Malawi outside RCN headquarters in London last week
Nurses and midwives in the UK have been credited with helping to boost the standard of care in Malawi. Almost 30 staff have travelled to the country to train its growing nursing and midwifery workforce as part of a voluntary programme. A delegation of nurses from the southern African country spoke of the success of the programme, run by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), during a visit to the RCN headquarters in London.
Longer shifts are a threat to patient safety, Europe-wide survey shows By Kat Keogh
@katkeogh
Staff working overtime and 12-hour shifts are compromising patient safety and quality of care, a survey of 30,000 nurses reveals. The Europe-wide study by the University of Southampton and the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London found nurses who work longer shifts and do more overtime are more likely to leave care undone. They are also more likely to rate the care on their ward as poor. Almost a third of nurses polled in England are working shifts of more than 12 hours, and these nurses are a third more likely to report poor quality of care compared to those working eight-hour shifts. They were also 41 per cent more likely to report unsafe care, and leaving necessary nursing care undone. The study, which involved nurses working in 450 hospitals in 12 European countries, is part of a research programme looking at the links between nursing workforce issues and patient outcomes. It found hospitals were adopting longer shifts to cut costs and reduce
the number of handovers of nurses’ shifts. The report estimates up to 14 per cent in salary costs can be saved by switching from three shifts to two longer ones. Some respondents said they preferred longer shifts because it meant they worked fewer days a week.
ALMOST A THIRD OF NURSES POLLED IN ENGLAND ARE WORKING 12-HOUR SHIFTS Study lead Peter Griffiths, chair of health services research at the University of Southampton, said: ‘Moving from three shorter shifts per day to two longer ones has been claimed to save up to 14 per cent of salary costs. But at what cost to the patient? ‘Although eight-hour shifts are still common, a lot of nurses are working these longer shifts, and this study shows that this could be counterproductive.’ RCN guidelines on shift working state that nurses are more at risk of fatigue and making errors at the end of a shift. Shifts should last no longer than 12 hours, and important
tasks such as drug rounds should not be carried out late in the shift, the guidelines say. They also suggest nurses should only work a maximum of two or three 12-hour shifts in a row and no longer than eight hours on a shift when the role is ‘demanding’ or ‘safety critical’.
Staff overstretched
RCN general secretary Peter Carter said patient care was being jeopardised by insufficient staff levels, and changing shift patterns would not work unless more nurses were trained. ‘The health service has limited resources to cope with rising numbers of patients, which is leading to massive pressures on the system and severely overstretched staff,’ he added. ‘Rather than over-rely on hospital staff working lengthier shifts or overtime, the NHS must undertake the sensible long-term workforce planning and investment needed to make sure there are enough nurses to provide high-quality patient care at all times.’ To read the study results go to tinyurl.com/mu4oe7l
NURSING 1 :: vol 29without no 5 :: permission. 2014 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 30, 2015. For personal use october only. No other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
BARNEY NEWMAN
Malawi clinicians praise VSO work
VSO staff and delegates from Malawi outside RCN headquarters in London last week
Nurses and midwives in the UK have been credited with helping to boost the standard of care in Malawi. Almost 30 staff have travelled to the country to train its growing nursing and midwifery workforce as part of a voluntary programme. A delegation of nurses from the southern African country spoke of the success of the programme, run by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), during a visit to the RCN headquarters in London.
Longer shifts are a threat to patient safety, Europe-wide survey shows By Kat Keogh
@katkeogh
Staff working overtime and 12-hour shifts are compromising patient safety and quality of care, a survey of 30,000 nurses reveals. The Europe-wide study by the University of Southampton and the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London found nurses who work longer shifts and do more overtime are more likely to leave care undone. They are also more likely to rate the care on their ward as poor. Almost a third of nurses polled in England are working shifts of more than 12 hours, and these nurses are a third more likely to report poor quality of care compared to those working eight-hour shifts. They were also 41 per cent more likely to report unsafe care, and leaving necessary nursing care undone. The study, which involved nurses working in 450 hospitals in 12 European countries, is part of a research programme looking at the links between nursing workforce issues and patient outcomes. It found hospitals were adopting longer shifts to cut costs and reduce
the number of handovers of nurses’ shifts. The report estimates up to 14 per cent in salary costs can be saved by switching from three shifts to two longer ones. Some respondents said they preferred longer shifts because it meant they worked fewer days a week.
ALMOST A THIRD OF NURSES POLLED IN ENGLAND ARE WORKING 12-HOUR SHIFTS Study lead Peter Griffiths, chair of health services research at the University of Southampton, said: ‘Moving from three shorter shifts per day to two longer ones has been claimed to save up to 14 per cent of salary costs. But at what cost to the patient? ‘Although eight-hour shifts are still common, a lot of nurses are working these longer shifts, and this study shows that this could be counterproductive.’ RCN guidelines on shift working state that nurses are more at risk of fatigue and making errors at the end of a shift. Shifts should last no longer than 12 hours, and important
tasks such as drug rounds should not be carried out late in the shift, the guidelines say. They also suggest nurses should only work a maximum of two or three 12-hour shifts in a row and no longer than eight hours on a shift when the role is ‘demanding’ or ‘safety critical’.
Staff overstretched
RCN general secretary Peter Carter said patient care was being jeopardised by insufficient staff levels, and changing shift patterns would not work unless more nurses were trained. ‘The health service has limited resources to cope with rising numbers of patients, which is leading to massive pressures on the system and severely overstretched staff,’ he added. ‘Rather than over-rely on hospital staff working lengthier shifts or overtime, the NHS must undertake the sensible long-term workforce planning and investment needed to make sure there are enough nurses to provide high-quality patient care at all times.’ To read the study results go to tinyurl.com/mu4oe7l
NURSING 1 :: vol 29without no 5 :: permission. 2014 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 30, 2015. For personal use october only. No other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
