Background: Critical care nurses are susceptible to fatigue, which can negatively influence their performance and the safety of patients and organisations.
Aim: To identify the available evidence on the dimensions, antecedents and consequences of fatigue in nurses working in critical care units.
Study design: This scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's 5-step approach for its design and implementation. Electronic databases were searched including PubMed (including Medline), Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria were studies published between 2015 and 2024 as a 10-year time frame, nurses working in the cardiac care unit, intensive care unit and haemodialysis departments for adults, paediatric and neonates, published in peer-reviewed journals in English and Farsi.
Results: Forty-five studies were included. The review findings revealed that critical care nurses experienced the dimensions of compassion, alarm, physical, mental, emotional, acute and chronic fatigue. The antecedents of fatigue were personal and demographic characteristics, professional and organisational issues and physical and psychological issues. Also, its consequences included individual, patient safety and organisational characteristics.
Conclusion: A multidimensional approach is required to mitigate adverse outcomes such as diminished care quality, compromised patient safety, nurse burnout and potential harm to both patients and the healthcare organisation.
Relevance to clinical practice: Critical care nurses experience fatigue across multiple dimensions, highlighting the complex and varied nature of fatigue in critical care units. Additionally, the experience of fatigue is influenced by different antecedents leading to multiple consequences for nurses, patients and organisations.
Keywords: critical care; fatigue; nurse; patient safety.
© 2025 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.