Designing a Measure of Complexity Compression in Registered Nurses

Abstract

Researchers in Minnesota have described and validated the phenomenon of Complexity Compression in qualitative studies of registered nurses. Analysis of themes from this research led to the design of a survey to assess nurses' agreement with variables that contribute to their experience of Complexity Compression. The survey was administered to a random sample of 199 registered nurses in Minnesota. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate the attributes of Complexity Compression and its underlying structure. Three factors emerged that explained 51.4% of the variance in responses: work of nursing, systems, and personal factors. Internal consistency of the factors ranged from .79 to .89. Validity of the survey for assessment of Complexity Compression in hospital-based nurses was supported. The construct of Complexity Compression and its contributing factors will be tested in future studies with nurses in a variety of health care settings.

Correlates and predictors of missed nursing care in hospitals

“…On the contrary, having to instruct students or new staff adds to the workload of nurses (Krichbaum et al . ).…”

“…The findings point to a need to acknowledge this dual and unique role and correct the misunderstanding that having students equals additional 'hands' and thereby decreased workload for staff members. On the contrary, having to instruct students or new staff adds to the workload of nurses (Krichbaum et al 2011).…”

Missed Nursing Care in Medical and Surgical Wards in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Similarly, Al-Faouri et al (2021) found that level of MNC was the lowest in the private sector compared to public and teaching hospitals. Apart from the fact that private hospitals are the least crowded sector in the Jordanian healthcare sector (Mrayyan et al, 2021), the explanation for this finding might be related to the increased workload on nurses in university hospitals as nurses are required to mentor students in their training (Krichbaum et al, 2011). In addition, the teaching hospitals are recognized for relocating nurses to other units that have reduced staffing levels (Amarneh, 2017), which may lead to more unmet nursing care in these settings.…”

Contexts and Mechanisms for Implementation Success: A Realist Evaluation of Behavior Checker in Integrated Primary Care

“…Another CMO revealed that while staff training was generally helpful in increasing content knowledge and confidence, it also created the adverse effects of increasing complexity compression (CC) among staff. The concept of CC, an understudied topic, first appeared in the nursing literature to capture the nature of nursing workflow that involves assuming multiple roles simultaneously and frequent shifting between tasks due to frequent staff turnover and increasing system complexity within healthcare (Krichbaum et al, 2007(Krichbaum et al, , 2011. Containing CC was a central concern for the clinic leadership in their effort to engage frontline staff in the Behavior Checker implementation efforts, which warrants further studies into CC as a possible mechanism that can influence implementation success.…”