The nursing workforce in critical care units in university and private hospitals in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the present status of the nursing workforce in Turkish university and private hospital intensive care units. Material and Methods: This study was a descriptive survey. a total of 1416 nursing staff members in the intensive care units of 144 Turkish hospitals participated in this study. Data were collected by mail and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: in this study, 89.4% of nursing staff members were nurses; 66% had a bachelor's degree and 0.5% had a master's degree. of the participants, 48.6% had not received any critical care-related training, 68.9% had been in the workforce between 0.1 to 5 years, and 30.2% had worked in the intensive care unit for 1 year or less. according to calculations based on data provided by the ICUs that responded to the relevant questions, the average turnover rate was 31.3% in the first year and 100% over the 5 years preceding the survey. the nurse-to-patient ratio was 1: 4 in university hospitals and 1: 2 in private hospitals. Daily working hours varied from unit to unit, with 89.6% of participants working for more than 8 hours per day. Conclusion: the findings indicate that the quality and quantity of nursing staff in Turkish university and private hospital intensive care units fall short of the minimum national or international standards.