Emergency nursing nurse sensitive indicators: An integrative review

Background: Nurse sensitive indicators (NSIs) capture the outcomes of each nursing function impacted by nursing care. NSIs are critical in clarifying foci for emergency nurses when providing care in the emergency department (ED). Objective: To establish NSIs key to emergency nursing from existing published literature. Methods: Ten databases were searched as well as grey literature and Google Scholar in the development of data for this integrative review. Articles underwent a title and abstract review to establish inclusion/exclusion suitability followed by a full text critical appraisal. Data were extracted, synthesized, and analyzed using a structured process. Results: Twenty-eight emergency nursing NSIs were identified from three included studies, with little consensus across the literature. The NSIs established in the literature reflected a broad range of non-specific technical skills. Overall, the quality of the included articles was low due to factors including study design and high risk of bias. Conclusions: The constrained range of NSIs and the limited literature exploring the outcomes of emergency nursing care perhaps reflects a wide ranging and seemingly evolving scope of emergency nurses. Further research is needed to delineate emergency nursing NSI, perhaps underpinned by a clear definition of an emergency nurse in terms of capability statements, core skills and defining attributes.