Occurrence and causes of missed nursing care in Nigeria: A single-center cross-sectional study

To determine the occurrence and causes of missed nursing care (MNC) among nurses in Nigeria. This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study done among nurses working in a hospital in Nigeria from August to November 2024. Sixty-two nurses were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Data was collected through self-administered MISSCARE survey tools. Pearson correlation was used to explore the relationship between continuous variables at P<0.05. The occurrence of MNC was 38.7% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.49 to 1.74). Commonly, MNCs were turning off patients (3.73 [standard deviation [SD]=0.99]), patient teaching/education (3.94 [SD=0.92]), review of collected lab results (3.77 [SD=1.10]), assessment of medication effectiveness (3.95 [SD=0.96]), attending interdisciplinary care conference (3.26 [SD=1.30]), and discussing patient expectations (3.77 [SD=1.13]). Inadequate number of staff (41.9%), inadequate number of support staff (38.7%), medications were not available when needed (41.9%), supplies/equipment not available when needed (43.5%), equipment not functioning correctly when needed (35.5%), tension of communication breakdowns with other department (32.3%), tension or communication breakdown within nursing team (32.3%), and communication breakdown with nurse assistant (32.3%) were the identified causes of MNC. Male nurses (Odds ratio [OR]: 1.1, 95% CI: 0.129 to 2.627), nurses who had less than one-year work experience (OR: 3.0, 95% CI: 0.090 to 71.820), nurses with diplomas (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 0.017 to 16.468), and nurses with a degree as educational qualification (OR: 1.5, 95% CI: 0.170 to 5.395) were factors associated with MNC. The study concluded that a low occurrence of MNC was found. There is a critical need to enhance nursing care; nurses should improve their care regarding patient turning, patient teaching/education, review of collected lab results, communication, and assessment of medication effectiveness. Further investigation is required to gain a deeper insight into the reasons behind missed care and the criteria nurses use to prioritize neglected care.