Are you an NMC-registered nurse in England working in critical care with 5 years or less of experience? We want to hear your story and experiences!

As part of our Enhancing Cultures of Safety research theme, we are seeking early career nurses working in critical care units in England who can spare 45 minutes for a confidential one-to-one online interview. By taking part and sharing your insights, you’ll be helping to shape our study on Early Career Critical Care Nurses’ Workload and Patient Safety.

If you would like to take part, or know someone who meets these criteria, please fill out the quick form below or get in touch with Paul Garvey at pjg35@leicester.ac.uk.

About the study:

Nursing is a safety critical role. This is especially so for critical care nurses who are often responsible for delivering and maintaining lifesaving or life sustaining care to highly complex patients. They are doing this while providing emotional support for patients their family and friends, alongside this they need to ensure that the bureaucratic work meets the legal and professional standards expected of the nursing role. Nurses also need to attend to their own personal and educational needs, which is essential during shifts that can be 12-13 hours long that are physically, cognitively, and emotionally demanding.

Managing this workload is often difficult, even for highly experienced staff. While all staff would happily do this in extreme circumstances it has become the norm for many as workloads have increased and become more complex. This can lead to a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of nursing staff, ultimately it has an impact on the experiences of patients, in the worst cases it can lead to significant lapses in patient safety.

While this is difficult for all staff it is particularly hard for early career nurses, those in their first five years of practice, who have to manage the same workload. This group faces the added challenge of addressing a steep learning curve as they gain skills and confidence in providing critical care. Managing this workload is incredibly difficult, and the data shows that many nurses leave the profession within their first three years of practice.

This study aims to understand how early career nurses perceive, experience and mange their workload in the critical care setting. Through online one-to-one interviews with we aim to develop a deeper understanding of the social, structural and policy factors that influence how early career nurses manage their workload in this highly complex fast moving environment. focusing on nursing staff at the start of their careers ultimately seeks to identify ways for staff and organisations to develop interventions that support skill development in managing workloads, which can be embedded in early-career practice. This will inform safe, high-quality practice throughout nurses’ careers, reducing the detrimental effects on their health and well-being and improving outcomes for patients.

This is study is led by Paul Garvey, a PhD Candidate at GM PSRC Enhancing cultures of safety theme. This project was approved by University of Leicester ethics committee (1761: 20/01/2025). Contact: pjg35@leicester.ac.uk

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