Abstract

Introduction: The appropriateness of nursing workload is an important factor in ensuring the safety and quality of care for patients. So measuring the nursing workload in intensive care units is necessary. The study aims to systematically review the evidences regarding the nursing workload in intensive care units using NAS. Methods: To find papers related to the nursing workload, international databases (PubMed / Medline, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar) and Iranian databases such as Magiran, SID and IranMedex Biomedical were searched. The search was done in order to find papers related to the nursing workload in the intensive care units in both Persian and English languages with a release date from 2000 to March 2015. To search in electronic references, keywords such as nursing workload, nursing activities score (NAS) and Intensive Care Unit were used. Results: From among 180 papers available in databases under study, 23 articles qualified inclusion criteria. Nursing workload in Intensive Care Units ranged 36.1 in Greece to 109.03 in Iran according to NAS. Conclusion: According to the results, nursing workload in Intensive Care Units varies among different countries. Accordingly, nurse to Patient ratio must be revised in Intensive Care Units in terms of demands and conditions.