SEARCHCROSS-SECTIONALgeriatrics, public health

cross-sectional·geriatrics, public health, epidemiology, observational study, family medicine·PMC10237523

Administrative burden in Swiss nursing homes and its association with care workers’ outcomes—a multicenter cross-sectional study

BMC Geriatrics · 7 authors, 4 centres

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TL;DR

Results showed 73.9% of care workers felt strongly or rather strongly burdened by administrative tasks.

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Results showed 73.9% of care workers felt strongly or rather strongly burdened by administrative tasks. The findings suggest that reducing burdensome administrative tasks could help improve care worker job satisfaction and retention.

STUDY TYPE

cross-sectional

SPECIALTY

geriatrics

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

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100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10237523

Administrative burden in Swiss nursing homes and its association with care workers’ outcomes—a multicenter cross-sectional study

BMC Geriatrics

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ABSTRACT

Background Care workers in nursing homes often perform tasks that are rather related to organizational or management activities than ‘direct patient care’. ‘Indirect care activities’, such as documentation or other administrative tasks are often considered by care workers as a burden, as they increase overall workload and keep them away from caring for residents. So far, there is little investigation into what kind of administrative tasks are being performed in nursing homes, by which type of care workers, and to which extent, nor how administrative burden is associated with care workers’ outcomes. Purpose The objective of this study was to describe care workers’ administrative burden in Swiss nursing homes and to explore the association with four care worker outcomes (i.e., job dissatisfaction, emotional exhaustion, intention to leave the current job and the profession). Methods This multicenter cross-sectional study used survey data from the Swiss Nursing Homes Human Resources Project 2018. It included a convenience sample of 118 nursing homes and 2′207 care workers (i.e., registered nurses, licensed practical nurses) from Switzerland’s German- and French-speaking regions. Care workers completed questionnaires assessing the administrative tasks and burden, staffing and resource adequacy, leadership ability, implicit rationing of nursing care and care worker characteristics and outcomes. For the analysis, we applied generalized linear mixed models, including individual-level nurse survey data and data on unit and facility characteristics. Results Overall, 73.9% ( n = 1′561) of care workers felt strongly or rather strongly burdened, with one third (36.6%, n = 787) reporting to spend 2 h or more during a "normal" day performing administrative tasks. Ratings for administrative burden ranged from 42.6% ( n = 884; ordering supplies and managing stocks) to 75.3% ( n = 1′621; filling out the resident’s health record). One out of four care workers (25.5%, n = 561) intended to leave the profession, whereby care workers reporting higher administrative task burden (OR = 1.24; 95%CI: 1.02–1.50) were more likely to intend to leave the profession. Conclusion This study provides first insights on care workers’ administrative burden in nursing homes. By limiting care workers’ burdensome administrative tasks and/or shifting such tasks from higher to lower educated care workers or administrative personnel when appropriate, nursing home managers could reduce care workers’ workload and improve their job satisfaction and retention in the profession.

CITATION EXPORT

Dietmar Ausserhofer, Waltraud Tappeiner, Heike Wieser et al.. Administrative burden in Swiss nursing homes and its association with care workers’ outcomes—a multicenter cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatrics. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04022-w

AUTHORS

7 · 4 CENTRES

Dietmar Ausserhofer, Waltraud Tappeiner, Heike Wieser, Christine Serdaly, Michael Simon, Franziska Zúñiga, Lauriane Favez

1Claudiana Research, College of Health Care-Professions, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
2grid.6612.30000 0004 1937 0642Institute of Nursing Science, Department of Public Health, University of Basel, Bernoullistr. 28, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
3Serdaly&Ankers Snc, 210 Route de Florissant, 1231 Conches, Switzerland
4grid.5681.a0000 0001 0943 1999School of Engineering and Management Vaud, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland