How does workload affect the innovative approach of intensive care nurses? A cross-sectional descriptive study

Objective: Intensive care nurses (ICN) worldwide are engaged in innovative activities and initiatives daily that lead to significant improvements in health with the aim of improving patient care outcomes and reducing health care costs. The workload of the ICNs may affect their creative and innovative approach. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of ICNs workloads during the patient care on attitudes towards innovative approaches. Material and Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive study. One hundred and thirty eight nurses working in intensive care units at a city training and research hospital in Turkey constituted the sample. Data was collected using "Participant Information Form", “Individual Innovativeness Scale in Nursing Profession” (IIS) and the “Workload Scale". Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskall-Wallis test, Spearmans correlation were used for statistical analyses. Demographic statistics are also given. Results: According to IIS, 2.2% (n=3) of respondents are innovators, 0.7% (n=1) pioneers, 4.3% (n=6) interrogators, 13.8% (n=19) skeptics, and 79% (n=109) traditionalists. Participants had an average score of 5.00±1.17 and a total score of 2.94±0.44. Differences were found between the workload and the innovativeness subscale of IIS (p=0.012). Conclusion: The results of our study revealed that the ICNs have excessive workloads and most of them have a traditional attitude to individual innovation.