Continuous professional development of nurses and its impact on missed nursing care in hospitals in Indonesia: A mixed-method study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine the implications of continuous professional development and its impact on missed nursing care (MNC) in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: The method used was a sequential explanatory mixed design. Methods: This qualitative study included 29 nurses who participated in in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. All participants were interviewed over five semi-structured interviews, with quantitative data divided into factors influencing knowledge transfer practices and MNC surveys. The sample size for the quantitative research was 181 people. Results: Seven main themes were identified in the qualitative study: clinical learning activity in hospitals, need for motivation in learning, organizational leadership and support for continued professional development (CPD), obstacles in clinical learning, an overview of caring in nursing care, incidents of MNC, and expectations for CPD. The quantitative data show that nurses (n = 181) reported that one or more care activities had been left undone due to lack of time on their shift (31.5%), bell response (44%), and reviewing drug effectiveness (47.4%). The most common reasons for MNC are an inadequate number of staff, inadequate shift-to-shift handoff, and communication breakdown within the nursing team. Conclusion: There were numerous incidents of MNC in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased CPD awareness can provide nurses with knowledge about MNC in nursing care.