National survey focusing on the crucial information needs of intensive care charge nurses and intensivists: same goal, different demands

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough information technology adequately supports clinical care in many intensive care units (ICUs), it provides much poorer support for the managerial information needed to coordinate multi-professional care. To gain a general view of the most crucial multi-professional information needs of ICU shift leaders a national survey was conducted, focusing on the information needs of charge nurses and intensivists.MethodsBased on our previous observation study an online survey was developed, containing 122 information need statements related to the decision-making of ICU shift leaders. Information need statements were divided into six dimensions: patient admission, organisation and management of work, allocation of staff and material resources, special treatments, and patient discharge. This survey involved all ICU shift leaders (n = 738) who worked in any of the 17 highest level ICUs for adults in university hospitals in Finland during the autumn of 2009. Both charge nurses’ and intensivists’ crucial information needs for care coordination were evaluated.ResultsTwo hundred and fifty-seven (50%) charge nurses and 96 (43%) intensivists responded to the survey. The consistency of the survey was found to be good (Cronbach’s α scores between .87–.97, with a total explanatory power of 64.53%). Altogether, 57 crucial information needs for care coordination were found; 22 of which were shared between shift leaders. The most crucial of these information needs were related to organisation and management, patient admission, and allocation of staff resources. The associations between working experience, or shift leader acting frequencies, and crucial information needs were not statistically significant. However, a statistically significant difference was found between the number of ICU beds and the ICU experience of charge nurses with information needs, under the dimension of organisation and management of work. The information needs of charge nurses and intensivists differed. Charge nurses’ information needs related to care coordination, were more varied, and concerned issues at a unit level, whereas intensivists focused on direct patient care.ConclusionsThe reliability and validity of our survey was found to be good. Our study findings show that care coordination at an ICU is a collaborative process among ICU shift leaders with multiprofessional information needs related to organisation and management, patient admission, and allocation of staff resources. Study findings can be used to identify the most crucial information needs of ICU shift leaders when new information technology is developed to support managerial decision-making during care coordination.

Identifying nurse managers' essential information needs in daily unit operation in perioperative settings

“…In a later phase, the knowledge map can support the evaluation of hospital performance by indicating the outcomes that should be evaluated in daily care (Markazi‐Moghaddam et al, ). Based on our prior knowledge, instruments have been developed to measure the information needs of nurse managers in acute healthcare settings but not in operating departments and day surgery units (Lundgrén‐Laine et al, ; Peltonen, Siirala, et al, ). This study identified nurse managers' essential information needs in daily unit operation in perioperative settings.…”

“…Decisions made by the nurse managers have been reported previously (Siirala et al, ), and their information needs are reported here. The second data source used for the item pool generation was a previously developed instrument for exploring ICU nurse managers' information needs (Lundgrén‐Laine et al, ). Permission to use the instrument was granted by the copyright holder.…”

“…Second , the instrument measuring ICU nurse managers' information needs consisted of 122 items (Lundgrén‐Laine et al, ). Their relevance was assessed by the research group and, based on consensus, the items were either rejected or accepted in the item pool.…”

“…Due to our interest in identifying the information needs of nurse managers in perioperative settings, we explored potential instruments or tools to be used. An instrument measuring the information needs of nurse managers in intensive care units (ICUs) already exists (Lundgrén‐Laine et al, ). An instrument is usually developed for a specific context and may not fit other contexts (DeVellis, ).…”

Nurse managers’ decision-making in daily unit operation in peri-operative settings: a cross-sectional descriptive study

“…A study done in the critical care setting environment indicated that nurse managers’ crucial information needs are related to patient admission, allocation of staff resources, and the organisation and management of work (Lundgrén‐Laine et al . ). It is unknown what decisions nurse managers make in peri‐operative settings.…”