Nursing workload associated with fever in the general intensive care unit.

Background: Fever in a patient in the intensive care unit necessitates several nursing tasks. Moreover, factors associated with increased patient care needs may be associated with fever.

Objective: To identify relationships between fever and characteristics of fever and nursing workload at the patient level.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in a medical-surgical intensive care unit. The sample consisted of 361 patients consecutively admitted from October 2005 to August 2006. Each patient's body temperature was measured by using a tympanic membrane or an axillary thermometer. The Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 was used to measure nursing workload.

Results: A total of 188 patients (52.1%) had fever. Mean daily scores on the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System and on 5 of its 7 categories were significantly higher for febrile patients than for nonfebrile patients. Fever was an independent predictor of the mean daily scores for all patients (P < .001). Peak body temperature but not duration of fever also was an independent predictor of mean daily scores for febrile patients (P < .001).

Conclusion: In a general intensive care unit, fever in patients should be taken into consideration for the proper allocation of nursing personnel.