Estimated Time to Complete Direct Nursing Interventions Using the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) at Eight Hospitals in South Korea

BACKGROUND: Without data on the average time for performing nursing interventions, it is not possible to identify the cost-effective nursing practices, nurse staffing levels, and skill mix that are associated with improved patient outcomes, nor can reimbursement rates be accurately determined. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the time needed to perform direct nursing interventions in Korea using the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) system, and then compare the findings with time estimates made by U.S. nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 721 registered nurses working in eight hospitals in South Korea. Each nurse was asked to choose the 30 most frequently used direct nursing interventions from a list of 433 from the Korean version of the NIC and to estimate the time needed to perform their selections. The U.S. data from the second edition of NIC were used for comparative purposes. RESULTS: Among the 92 nursing interventions studied, the majority were in the physiological domain, with 46 (50%) in Physiological: Basic and 25 (27%) in Physiological: Complex. In Korea, the intervention reported as taking the shortest time was Tube Care: Umbilical Line, while the intervention reported as taking the longest time was Bowel Irrigation. Comparisons of the time to perform interventions in the two countries indicated that only 38 (41.3%) interventions are performed in 15 min or less in both countries. Of the remainder, six interventions showed considerable variation in time to perform between the two countries. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION: Findings from the study will provide fundamental data for calculating the cost of nursing interventions, which is critical for the establishment of reimbursement rates for interventions provided.