Unfinished nursing care reasons as perceived by nurses at different levels of nursing services: Findings of a qualitative study

AIM: This study aimed to investigate reasons for unfinished nursing care across the whole levels of the nursing service as perceived by clinical nurses, ward managers and executive nurses. BACKGROUND: Even though unfinished nursing care has been considered an issue affected by the system, no studies to date have attempted to investigate reasons across the whole levels of the nursing service by involving clinical nurses, ward managers and executive nurses. METHOD: A descriptive qualitative approach was performed in 2021 according to the COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research guidelines. A large public health care trust was approached, and a purposeful sample of clinical nurses, ward managers and executive nurses was invited to attend face‐to‐face or online interviews. Twenty‐nine interviews were performed (19 clinical nurses, 7 ward managers and 3 executive nurses) and transcribed verbatim. Then, a content analysis was conducted by considering all narratives together followed by an analytic process to identify themes and subthemes at the clinical, ward manager and executive levels. RESULTS: Reasons for unfinished nursing care have emerged at five levels: system (e.g., poor support towards nursing care), unit (e.g., ineffective models of nursing care delivery), nurse managers (e.g., inadequate nurse manager leadership), nurses (e.g., weaknesses in education) and patients (e.g., increased demand for patients' care). CONCLUSION: The evidence available should be expanded to include also unfinished nursing care reasons identified at the system and at the ward manager levels, that both can complete the perceptions of the clinical nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The actors composing the nursing service perceive different reasons and therefore should be involved in detecting and contrasting the unfinished nursing care. The reasons applied or established at the upper level influence the bedside levels: Therefore, strategies to prevent or minimize the unfinished nursing care should be designed at multi‐levels in a system‐inclusive approach.