The organisational factors that influence how nurses take vital signs
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What organisational factors influence how nurses measure, document, interpret and report vital signs in adult patients in acute health care settings?
IRAS ID
223991
Contact name
Susan Quayle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The principle research question is “What organisational factors influence how nurses measure, document, interpret and report vital signs in adult patients in acute health care settings?”
Vital sign measurements are often documented inaccurately and inconsistently and staff do not always appreciate the importance of vital sign measurements. Higher levels of mortality are associated with lower levels of staffing, a more dilute skill mix and lower levels of staff education. It has been hypothesised that these staffing issues are implicated in the “failure to rescue” of patients with preventable complications of their illness. However, there have been no studies that have investigated what factors nurses perceive affect their ability to monitor vital signs effectively in patients at risk of deterioration. The study aims to answer these questions to increase patient safety.
A case study approach will be used. Data collection methods will be observation, interviews and document analysis. Observations will take place for one or two eight to 12 hour shift shifts a week over a three to six-month period focusing on how staff prioritise and carry out the measuring, documenting, interpreting and reporting of vital signs. Staff will be chosen purposively and will be any Registered Nurse (RN), Health Care Assistant (HCA) or student nurses who undertake vital signs measurements.
Individual semi structured interviews will also be conducted with clinical care staff at ward level (RN’s, HCA’s, student nurses, the ward manager and doctors. In-depth semi structured interviews will be conducted individually with key informants working above ward level and involved in the managing and monitoring of patient safety. These will include the Director of Nursing, clinical governance manager, risk manager, complaints manager and head of medicine. Documents such as policies and procedures relating to vital signs and patient safety will be analysed to examine the relationships between the documents and practice. The proposed site is an adult medical assessment unit of an English acute NHS hospital.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
17/NI/0116
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion