Effects of Nurse’s Work Environment and Practice on Patient’s Safety

Background: When a patient with an acute medical illness is admitted to a hospital, their safety is a prime concern for healthcare professionals. Ongoing nursing assessment is a type of nursing assessment that commences at the beginning of every shift and is completed on every patient. This information is used to develop a plan of care. The aim of this study was to assess the application of ongoing nursing assessment approaches in intensive care units. 
Methods: This cross-sectional hospital-based study included a total of 135 nurses, of which 23 (17%) were from Khartoum hospital, 62 (46%) from Alshaab hospital, 15 (11%) from Soba University Hospital, and 35 (26%) from the National Center for Neurological Science.
Results: The ongoing nursing assessment approaches were available in most intensive care units of the study area with the domination of the ABCDE approach. Factors that can impact the thoroughness of the ongoing nursing assessment performance suggested by the studied participants were nurses' knowledge and competency, followed by insufficient time and resources to carry out the assessment.
Conclusion: Most participants did not complete the assessment suggesting a poor performance. The knowledge base of the participants was not reflected in their practice with a wide difference between them.
Key words: Nursing assessment approach, intensive care unit, assessment performance, Sudan