AIM: The aim of this umbrella review was to summarise the existing evidence on the effectiveness of nursing interventions targeted at adult patients in hospitals.

DESIGN: Existing systematic reviews were synthesised.

DATA SOURCES: The literature search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL Complete, and the Cochrane Library by two of the authors until June 6th 2024 without a time limit.

METHODS: A total of 2652 records were identified. After screening the titles and abstracts, 2421 records were excluded. Then two records were excluded as they were not retrieved, and 125 records were excluded during full-text review as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Finally, 11 reviews (141 original studies) were included in the quality assessment and were analysed narratively.

RESULTS: The most commonly used interventions were educational, followed by preventive, observative, or combinations of various interventions. All interventions were targeted at the care of somatic patients. The interventions lacked detailed descriptions of their content and duration. Nursing interventions were found to reduce anxiety, depression, disorder symptoms, pain intensity, length of hospital stay, serious adverse effects, mortality, infections and pressure ulcer prevalence.

CONCLUSIONS: There is limited high-quality evidence on the effectiveness of nursing interventions used by nurses at hospital settings. While nursing interventions can improve hospital patient outcomes, more high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses are needed. Only preventive interventions (such as pressure ulcer prevention and use of early warning scores) consistently showed positive effects and are relatively easy to implement in hospital nursing practice. Other interventions are not yet widely integrated into standard care in hospitals. It is necessary to study the cost-effectiveness of nursing interventions.

NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTIONS: This umbrella review did not include any patient or public involvement.

REPORTING METHOD: This umbrella review of systematic reviews adheres to the PRISMA statement.

No subscriber has commented on this article yet.