Exploring Approaches to Prevent Missed Nursing Care from the Perspective of Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Qualitative Content Analysis Study

Introduction: The Intensive Care Unit is one of the most critical departments in a hospital, and the quality of nursing care in this area is of utmost importance. The absence of certain aspects of care can have irreparable effects on patient health. This qualitative study aimed to explore approaches to prevent missed nursing care from the perspective of Intensive Care Unit nurses. Methods: Using a traditional content analysis method, this qualitative investigation identified strategies to prevent missed care in ICUs. Information was collected between April and June 2024 through in-depth, semi-structured personal interviews with 14 intentionally selected participants. The data analysis followed the five-phase framework developed by Graneheim and Lundman (2004) for coding and categorizing. MAXQDA version 10 software was used for data management. Findings: Participants had an average of 10.66±0.54 years of experience. Upon examining the data, seven key themes emerged that were linked to nurses’ roles in care decisions. These included: developing a unified framework for identifying and managing high-risk situations, focusing on specialized tasks, ensuring an adequate number of nursing staff, enhancing nurses’ skills, improving communication within and between professions, and providing strong institutional support. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that missed nursing care can be effectively reduced by implementing management approaches such as strengthening organizational support for nurses, boosting their motivation and commitment to work, fostering better collaboration between nurses and the healthcare system, decreasing nurses’ workload, enhancing their professional skills and expertise, and actively including nurses in healthcare and care-related decision-making processes.