Missed nursing care and its associated factors in public hospitals of Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of missed nursing care and its associated factors among public hospitals in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia. Design An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 369 randomly selected nurses. Setting The study was conducted in primary and secondary-level public hospitals in Bahir Dar City. Participants Nurses who had worked in hospitals in Bahir Dar City were included. Intervention No intervention was needed in this study. Primary and secondary outcome measures A binary logistic regression model was used for statistical analysis. Statistical significance of the association between outcome variables and independent variables was declared at a p value of <0.05 with a 95% CI. Results The prevalence of missed nursing care in this study was 46.3% (95% CI: 41.7% to 50.9%). The activities most frequently missed were physical examination (56.4%), patient discharge planning and teaching (50.9%), providing emotional support to the patient and family (50.8%), monitoring input and output (50.2%), assisting with patient ambulation (48.5%) and documentation (48%). Factors associated with missed nursing care include: male professionals (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.9, 95% CI: 1.8 to 4.8), those who had not received on-the-job training (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.4 to 3.6), those who worked full 24-hour shifts (AOR: 3.7, 95% CI: 2.0 to 6.5), those who were dissatisfied with the level of teamwork (AOR: 4.6, 95% CI: 2.8 to 7.6) and those who had an intention to leave the nursing profession (AOR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1 to 2.9). These factors were statistically associated with missed nursing care. Conclusion A significant proportion of nurses missed essential nursing care activities. Efforts should be made to enhance training, improve teamwork among nurses, provide stability and adjust work shifts to mitigate this issue.