Association between the workload of nurses and patients’ safety consequences at Erdogan referral hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia; A cross-sectional Study

Abstract

The nursing workload is a significant public health concern and one of the most persistent themes in health worldwide. The Insufficient nurses staffing or overworked of nurses in hospital-based care could lead severe consequences of patients' safety outcomes, such as mortality, infections, and failure to rescue, as well as decrease quality of care. No previous study has been done in Somalia in this regard. Therefore. This study aimed to determine the association between nurses' workload and patient safety outcomes at Mogadishu, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan Training and Research Hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia. The study was a cross-sectional study was conducted among registered working nurses and selected patients who were registered and admitted at Mogadishu, Somalia—Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan Training and Research Hospital. The study populations were selected using simple random sampling methods, and data were analysed using multiple logistic regression analysis. A total of 360 participants were analysed. Overwhelmingly, 93 (51.7%) nurses worked between 8 and 12 hours per day in each shift on daily based. Every five nurse respondents, one worked more than 12 hours daily—63 (35%). According to the findings of this study, the majority of nurses (82.88%) were have felt stressed due to their workload. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed the risk factors associated with patients’ safety outcomes were Urinary Trac Infection (UTI) was (AOR = 0.03 95% CI = (0.163-0.571, P = 0.001), Blood Stream Infection (BSI) (OR = 3.909, 95% CI = 2.312-6.610, P = 0.001), and patient monitoring tragedy (AOR = 0.61 95% CI = (0.031-0.199, P = 0.001). The results revealed that most nurses worked between 8 and 12 hours per day and were highly stressed due to the burden of their work. The risk factors associated with nurses' workload and patients' safety were the incidence of UTI, BSI and patient monitoring tragedy. This study emphasised that nurses' workloads directly affected patients' safety consequences. This study reported a lack of the following recommended international Labouré Standardization (ILS) guidelines in Somalia for nurses' rights and work standardisation. Also, immediate action needs to be taken by Somalia's health authorities to protect the nurse's rights.