The impact of nursing interventions: overview of effective interventions, outcomes, measures, and priorities for future research.

The purpose of this article is to present findings from a review of published systematic/integrative reviews and meta-analyses on nursing interventions and patient outcomes in acute care settings. A literature search was conducted for the period 1999-2005, producing 4,000 systematic/integrative reviews and 500 meta-analyses covering seven topics selected by the authors: elder care, caregivers, developmental care of neonates and infants, symptom management, pressure ulcer prevention/treatment, incontinence, and staffing. The association between nursing care interventions/processes and patient outcomes in acute care settings was found to be limited in the articles reviewed. The strongest evidence was for the use of patient risk-assessment tools and interventions implemented by nurses to prevent patient harm. We observed significant variation in methods to measure the effect of independent variables (nursing interventions) on patient outcomes. Results indicate the need for more research measuring the effect of specific nursing interventions that may impact acute care patient outcomes.