1Department of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Faculty Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
2Department of Surgery, Faculty Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
3School of Nursing Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia
4Department of Nursing Sciences, College of Health Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria
5Department of Sport Studies, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
6Sports Academy, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
Nosocomial infections (NIs) is an infection acquired in the hospital and becomes evident 48 hours after admission to the hospital. It continues to be a major problem affecting patient safety and quality of care in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). One of the most pertinent factors leading to NIs is nursing workload. The Aim of the study is to determine nursing workload on NIs rate in the ICU, Hospital Serdang. A retrospective cross sectional study was used. Data were collected from NIs surveillance, staff nurses’ duty roster and patient census by using a performa. The result in this study shows, 19%(n=88) cases of NIs were detected in 12%(n=57) of patient. There was significant moderate positive relationship between the number of infection and the total number of nurses working overtime (r= 0.66, n=88, p = 0.001) and the number of infection and the total number of new staffs (r= 0.51, n=88, p = 0.001). There was significant weak positive relationship between the number of infection and the total number of nurses taking medical leave or emergency leave (r= 0.33, n=88, p = 0.001). This study provide a baseline to improve nursing staffing in ICU. Future planning of ICU staffing should be comprehensive so that patients are not disadvantaged.
Nosocomial infection, nursing workload, ICU staffing
