Key result
Nursing care activities, particularly bathing and toileting, imposed the greatest physical burden, with direct and indirect care tasks each accounting for approximately 50% of total working time.
Why the study?
To address the shortage of care workers, this study aimed to accurately assess the workload and physical burden associated with nursing care in long-term care facilities.
Caregiving involves substantial physical burden, particularly during bathing and toileting, highlighting the potential benefit of support systems to reduce workload.
Purpose Various studies have evaluated staff workload in long-term care facilities to address the shortage of care workers. This study aimed to accurately assess the workload associated with nursing care. Methods We used time-motion studies and heart rate measurements to investigate t care activities and the physical burden experienced by caregivers in care facilities with residents requiring relatively high levels of care. Results Bathing and toileting assistance imposed the greatest physical burden; however, many other tasks also required a relatively high level of physical effort. Caregivers frequently switched between different tasks, highlighting the fragmented nature of caregiving work. Direct and indirect care tasks each accounted for approximately half of the total working time within the scope of this survey. Conclusions Care work involves a substantial physical burden. The adoption of support systems that assist with or automate the most physically demanding tasks could substantially reduce caregiver burden and improve the quality of care. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trial Registry No. [Removed/deleted for anonymization.]. Registered on 21 January 2020. Interventional, parallel-group, nonrandomised, single-blind, retrospectively registered study.
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Yoshimi et al. (2026) studied Nursing care staff workload. Nursing care activities was evaluated on Physical burden and time allocation of care activities. Nursing care activities, particularly bathing and toileting, imposed the greatest physical burden, with direct and indirect care tasks each accounting for approximately 50% of total working time.
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