Workload status at nursing stations in united nations relief and works agency health centers – Gaza governorates

Abstract

This study aims to assess workload status at nursing stations at United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) health centers in Gaza Governorates. A quantitative cross-sectional design was used utilizing self-constructed questionnaire and an extraction/observation sheet. All the nurses (163) who were working in the randomly selected 10 health centers were included, 128 responded and completed self-administered questionnaires, with a response rate of 78.5\%.  In total, 258 nursing procedures were assessed for time unit values at the service delivery points.  Reliability test was 0.903.  Findings show that nurses’ perceptions reflected relatively moderate scores regarding the overall domains constituting the entire workload status (66.75%), with the highest scores for working hours’ domain (70.25%), followed by staffing domain (66%), system domain (65.5%) and facilities domain (65.25%).  In response to a direct question, 91% of nurses believed that they are work overloaded and they attributed their feeling of being overloaded due to many factors especially paperwork. The average measurement calculation of time unit values per nursing procedure in minutes and provided useful readings for example; blood pressure measurement 0:55, weighting baby 0:19, weighting adult 0:18, minor dressing 4:37 and abdominal examination 2:03.  Also time unit values consumed in minutes per client in each station were calculated such as; non-communicable diseases 3:08, postnatal care 13:40, antenatal care 8:58, family planning 6:04, injection 1:15, health screening 2:49, immunization 3:31 and dressing 4:37.  The researcher recommends using the revealed values to better estimate workload in health centers. Decreasing paper work and ensuring appropriate staffing level are important for having fair and appropriate workload.