The effect of nurses' job characteristics on missed nursing care in medical and surgical departments in selected Slovenian hospitals : a cross-sectional study

Bahun, Mateja (author), Lobe, Bojana (author), Skela-Savič, Brigita (author)

Aim: The aim was to examine the extent of missed nursing care (MNC), the reasons behind it and the contribution of nurses’ job characteristics to MNC in Slovenian hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional explorative research was conducted. The BERNCA-R and part B of the MISSCARE questionnaire were used. A total of 880 nurses from 10 hospitals in Slovenia participated with completed questionnaires; of those, 57.6% were healthcare assistants and 42.4% were registered nurses. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: In the five-component solution of the MNC, the activities of ‘Monitoring’ (M=2.09; SD=0.909) and ‘Caring, support, activation, education’ (M=2.03; SD=0.822) were the most frequently missed, with the leading item being ‘Conversation with a patient or their family’ (M=2.45; SD=0.940). Labour resources (M=3.44; SD=0.642) were the most common reason for MNC, with inadequate number of staff (M=3.75; SD=0.660) as the leading item. The stepwise multiple regression model showed that the more significant the labour resources are, the more frequently MNC occurs in all five dimensions (p=0.000–0.002). Most job characteristics proved to be significant; however, as satisfaction with wages, years of employment and assessment of the quality of nursing care increase, MNC decreases in all five dimensions. Conclusions: This study enables healthcare decision makers and managers at the national level and in healthcare organisations to understand the problem of missed nursing care and to plan and implement changes accordingly.

• Language: English
• Keywords: BERNCA-R, MISSCARE, work environment, Nurse retention, Quality of healthcare, workforce
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 24-31
• Numbering: Letn. 64, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175111
• UDC: 616-083
• ISSN on article: 0351-0026
• DOI: 10.2478/sjph-2025-0004
• COBISS.SI-ID: 221228035
• Publication date in RUL: 16.10.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Slovenian journal of public health
• Publisher: Zavod LRS za zdravstveno varstvo, Republiški zdravstveni center, Zavod LRS za zdravstveno varstvo, Republiški zdravstveni center, Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje, Inštitut za varovanje zdravja Republike Slovenije, Univerzitetni zavod za zdravstveno in socialno varstvo
• ISSN: 0351-0026
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3287810

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
• Description: You are free to reproduce and redistribute the material in any medium or format. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Učinek značilnosti delovnih mest medicinskih sester na neizvedeno zdravstveno nego na internističnih in kirurških oddelkih v izbranih slovenskih bolnišnicah : presečna raziskava
• Keywords: BERNCA-R, MISSCARE, delovno okolje, zadrževanje medicinskih sester, kakovost zdravstvene oskrbe, delovna sila