How do nurses manage their work under time pressure? Occurrence of implicit rationing of nursing care in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the experience of intensive care unit nurses under time pressure and the occurrence of implicit rationing under time pressure.Methods: In-depth audio-recorded interviews were conducted with 18 intensive care unit nurses. Colaizzi seven -step analysis of phenomenological data was used.Findings: Three themes emerged from the analysis: the influence of internal and external environments, perceived differences in time pressure, and broad coping styles.Conclusions: Under the influence of various factors, including continuous or intermittent time pressure, nurses employ strategies to deal with the pressure. Sometimes, these strategies allow them to complete all their necessary work. However, with the increase in time pressure, sometimes some work that must be done is changed into work that should be done in the consciousness of nurses. In such cases, nurses choose the strategy of implicit rationing to deal with time pressure.