Work sampling revisited: a technique for understanding nursing work.

This article describes the work sampling methodology as a technique to provide direct observational data for the analysis of nursing job design. Work sampling has previously been used to examine the actual work of hospital nurses under the broad categories of direct and indirect care. We assert that work sampling can also be used to examine a specific type of nursing care, and use the example of intrapartum support to illustrate this. The purpose is to discuss the potential for using work sampling as a technique to examine the actual work nurses do and provide data for analysis of nurse job design.