ArticleHERD2018
Nursing Unit Design, Nursing Staff Communication Networks, and Patient Falls: Are They Related?
Article in HERD, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Integral Role of Nurses in Ensuring Well-Designed and Functional New Public Hospitals: A Qualitative Study.International nursing review · 2026Article
- Newborn technology use in low-resource settings: the role of health professionals' communication in implementation.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Quantifying Spatial Shadow Zones and Their Association With Hospital Falls in Acute Care Unit: Real-Time Location System Observational Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Observational
- Cognitive Control/Flexibility, Social Isolation, and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction of Intensive Care Unit Nurses.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Evaluation of Automated Video Monitoring to Decrease the Risk of Unattended Bed Exits in Small Rural Hospitals.Journal of patient safety · 2021Article
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purpose: The purpose of this research is to (1) investigate the impact of nursing unit design on nursing staff communication patterns and, ultimately, on patient falls in acute care nursing units; and (2) evaluate whether differences in fall rates, if found, were associated with the nursing unit physical structure (shape) or size.
background: Nursing staff communication and nursing unit design are frequently linked to patient safety outcomes, yet little is known about the impact of specific nursing unit designs on nursing communication patterns that might affect patient falls.
method: An exploratory longitudinal correlational design was used to measure nursing unit communication structures using social network analysis techniques. Data were collected 4 times over a 7-month period. Floor plans were used to determine nursing unit design. Fall rates were provided by hospital coordinators.
results: An analysis of covariance controlling for hospitals resulted in a statistically significant interaction of unit shape and size (number of beds). The interaction occurred when medium- and large-sized racetrack-shaped units intersected with medium- and large-sized cross-shaped units.
conclusion: The results suggest that nursing unit design shape impacts nursing communication patterns, and the interaction of shape and size may impact patient falls. How those communication patterns affect patient falls should be considered when planning hospital construction of nursing care units.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.