Rationing of nursing care

The main aim of the study was to find the differences in rating implicitly rationed nursing care by Czech nurses according to the type of unit and type of hospital. Design: multicenter cross-sectional study. Sample: The sample included 8209 nurses providing direct care to medical and surgical patients in 14 acute care Czech hospitals. The most frequently rationed nursing care activity was Timely response to patient or family request/need, followed by Emotional or psychological support and Adequate supervision of delegated tasks. More implicitly rationed nursing care was reported in medical units. Statistical differences were found in rating 25 items and the PIRNCA total score. Nurses from middle-sized hospitals reported implicitly rationed care more frequently than those from large hospitals.