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This cross-sectional study examined missed care in a Central New York community using the MISSCARE Survey. A great deal of the research on missed care has been focused in the midwestern United States. This study replicates a midwestern study to determine results in other parts of the United States.
Nurses provide care to meet patient needs in the context of a complex healthcare system, care that sometimes may fall below desired standards. The majority of research in this area has examined nursing care errors of commission that result, for example, in patients receiving wrong medications or treatments. Improved knowledge of the complex reasons for these errors and their impact on nurses has led to a deeper understanding of the role of nursing care in healthcare delivery as well as the need for changes in system-wide standards that impact quality (Karga, Kiekkas, Aretha, & Lemonidou, 2011). While valuable, this represents only part of the problem. Attention is needed for errors of omission, or missed nursing care, which also impact patient care.
Research Questions
This study, conducted in upstate New York, replicated research conducted by Kalisch, Landstrom, and Williams (2009) in the midwestern United States. The research questions were as follows: (a) What is the amount and type of missed nursing care? (b) What are the reasons for missed care? (c) Do the amount and type of missed care vary by demographic characteristics of the nurse? (d) Do the reasons given for missing care vary by demographic characteristics?
Significance of the Research
Required nursing care that has been omitted, either partially or completely, has been defined as missed nursing care (Kalisch, Landstrom, & Hinshaw, 2009). This phenomenon contributes to patient mortality and morbidity, including wrong medication or dose, skin impairment, nosocomial infections, and patient falls (Kalisch, Xie, & Dabney, 2013; Lucero, Lake, & Aiken, 2010). Missed nursing care also reduces patient satisfaction; patients become less satisfied when more nursing care is missed (Lake, Germack, & Viscardi, 2016).
Literature Review
PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline databases were searched for 20002015 using the terms missed care and missed nursing care. The search was limited to the English language and settings within the United States. Thirty-four articles were retrieved after eliminating duplications, editorials, and review articles. The articles published before...