Occurrence of hospital-acquired infections in relation to missed nursing care

Design: A literature review.

Methods: The literature review included full texts of articles published in English in 2009–2018 and obtained by searching the following bibliographic databases: PubMed, Bibliographia Medica Čechoslovaca and ProQuest Central. Twenty-six articles were assessed for eligibility, of which nine articles meeting all the criteria were analyzed in detail.

Results: The analyzed studies have confirmed that missed nursing care is associated with hospital-acquired infections, with bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections and pneumonia being most frequent. Apart from hospital-acquired infections and missed nursing care, other adverse events were reported such as pressure ulcers, patient falls and medication error; moreover, patient dissatisfaction rose. Lower levels of missed nursing care were associated with a lower incidence of hospital-acquired infections and other adverse events.

Conclusion: Tackling the issue of missed nursing care would contribute to a lower incidence of hospital-acquired infections that harm patient health, prolong hospital stays and considerably increase healthcare costs.