Exploring influencing factors of workload in nursing assistants: a qualitative study

Background and Objectives: High workloads are a major challenge to health care workers, especially first-line supporters, who are assistant nurses, and this has many negative consequences. this study aimed to identify the factors affecting the workload of nursing assistants in one of Tehran hospitals. Method: The research is descriptive-qualitative with the method of qualitative content analysis. With the participation of 13 assistant nurses who were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and after each interview, the data were loaded and analyzed in MAX QDA software and this process continued until data saturation. Result: In the findings of continuous data analysis, a total of 473 codes were found in the factors affecting workload in the process of nursing assistants' work system. Finally, they were classified into five categories of Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model (person, task, organization, tools, equipment, and environment). Conclusion: most factors affecting workload are obtained in the organizational component and the least in the environmental component of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model, which indicates the high role of interpersonal relationships in the workplace and hospital rules on the workload of nursing assistants.