A Cross Section Study on the Relationship Between Nurse-Reported Missed Care, Emotional Labour, and Compassion Fatigue in Intensive Care Units

Aim(s): To investigate the correlation between compassion Fatigue, emotional labour and missed nursing care among intensive care unit nurses.

Design: A cross-sectional design.

Methods: Data were collected from two hospitals in Shandong Province, China, from July to August 2024. A total of 226 intensive care unit nurses completed the questionnaires. The completion rate for the surveys was 98%. The Demographic Characteristic Questionnaire, Chinese version of Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale, Chinese version of Emotional Labor Scale and Chinese version of Missed Nursing Care Questionnaire were used for investigation. Descriptive statistics, Multiple-linear regression and Spearman correlation analyses were used for data analysis.

Results: The mean (SD) scores of compassion fatigue, emotional labour and missed nursing care were 51.17 (24.64), 2.98 (0.51) and 37.71(14.11), respectively. Spearman correlation showed that compassion fatigue was positively associated with emotional labour (p < 0.05), and missed nursing care (p < 0.01). Furthermore, deep acting, a form of emotional labour, had a significant negative relationship with missed nursing care (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: The nursing care was rarely missed among intensive care unit nurses, while compassion fatigue and emotional labour were positively associated with missed nursing care. Therefore, focusing on developing interventions for alleviating compassion fatigue and emotional labour may contribute to decrease the incidence of missed nursing care.

Impact: The emotional state of intensive care unit nurses can have a significant impact on the quality of nursing care. It is recommended that nursing managers should promote relevant training in deep acting and instruct nurses to manage emotions during patient interactions, to decrease missed nursing care.

Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.