Hospital restructuring stressors, support, and nursing staff perceptions of unit functioning

Hospital restructuring and downsizing have taken place in most developed countries during the past 10 years. A small but growing body of research findings has identified aspects of these changes that serve as sources of stress for nursing staff during these transitions as well as organizational initiatives that facilitate those transitions. This study reports results from a longitudinal study of hospital restructuring and downsizing on nursing staff perceptions of hospital functioning. Data were collected in November 1996 and again in November 1999 from hospital-based nursing staff using questionnaires. The findings showed moderate but statistically significant relationships between restructuring stressors and organizational support in 1996 and perceptions of hospital functioning in 1999. Nursing staff reporting higher levels of restructuring stressors and lower hospital support in 1996 indicated more negative perceptions of unit and hospital functioning in 1999.     

Hospital restructuring stressors: support and nursing staff perceptions of unit functioning

Hospital restructuring and downsizing have taken place in most developed countries during the past ten years. A small but growing body of research findings has identified aspects of these changes that serve as sources of stress for nursing staff during these transitions as well as organizational initiatives that facilitate those transitions. This study reports results from a longitudinal study of hospital restructuring and downsizing on nursing staff perceptions of hospital functioning. Data were collected in November 1996, and again in November 1999, from hospital-based nursing staff using questionnaires. The findings showed moderate but statistically significant relationships between restructuring stressors and organizational support in 1996 and perceptions of hospital functioning in 1999. Nursing staff reporting higher levels of restructuring stressors and lower hospital support in 1996 indicated more negative perceptions of unit and hospital functioning in 1999.     

Hospital restructuring and nursing staff well-being: the role of personal resources

This study examined the role played by two personal resources, job mobility options and financial resources, among nursing staff during a period of major hospital restructuring and downsizing. Data were collected from 1362 staff nurses using questionnaires. Personal resources were hypothesized to have direct and indirect effects on job satisfaction and psychological well-being in a model of hospital restructuring and its effects. The model included four variables: extent of hospital restructuring, future threats to the workplace, job satisfaction, and psychosomatic symptoms. LISREL analyses indicated that financial resources reduced perceptions of future workplace threats and psychosomatic symptoms while job mobility options were associated with higher levels of job satisfaction.     

Hospital restructuring and the work of registered nurses

American hospitals have undergone three waves of organizational restructuring in the past two decades. These changes have had direct effects on a key set of employees--nurses. A review of the relevant literature to identify the ways in which hospital restructuring affects the work of registered nurses focuses on three important structural characteristics of nursing work: nurses' work roles, workload, and control of work. The review concludes that the impact of restructuring on each of the characteristics affects nurses' satisfaction with their work and may also affect the quality of patient care. While much of the policy debate around restructuring focuses on the extent to which reductions in nurse staffing levels affects quality of care, it is important to examine not only changes in nurse staffing levels, but changes in the work performed by registered nurses, as well.     

Women physicians during residency years: workload, work satisfaction and self concept

Fifteen women pediatric residents, 15 non-medical women academicians similar in age and marital status and 15 women pediatricians at least 10 years past residency were surveyed. Subjects were asked to estimate the amount of time they devote to their professional work, domestic work and the degree to which they feel overworked. Subjects were also questioned regarding their perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of their life-style and their self-concept as a women and as a professional. The results of this study show that residents, who work significantly more hours per week, have a significantly lower level of work satisfaction than do women in the other two groups. It also suggests the fact that the stress of the residency years affects not only the residents' work satisfaction but their entire self-concept as well. The paper offers possible suggestions the medical profession can take in order to help physicians better cope with their professional stress.     

Correlates of nursing staff survivor responses to hospital restructuring and downsizing

This study examines correlates of 4 archetypal survivor responses to organizational restructuring and downsizing proposed by Mishra and Spreitzer: hopeful, obliging, cynical, and fearful. Data were collected from 744 long-term nursing staff survivors of hospital restructuring and downsizing using questionnaires. Three types of correlates were considered: work outcomes, indicators of psychologic well-being, and perceptions of hospital functioning. Greater endorsement of cynical and fearful restructuring responses was associated with more negative work outcomes and lower psychologic well-being. Greater endorsement of both cynical and fearful responses was also found to be associated with more negative perceptions of hospital functioning and effectiveness.     

Implementation of hospital restructuring and nursing staff perceptions of hospital functioning

Hospital restructuring and downsizing has taken place in most developed countries during the past ten years. A small but growing body of research findings has identified aspects of these changes that serve as sources of stress for nursing staff, as well as features of the restructuring process that contribute to more effective transitions. This research reports results of a longitudinal study of hospital restructuring and downsizing on nursing staff perceptions of hospital effectiveness. Data were collected in November 1996 and again in November 1999 from nursing staff using questionnaires. Would the way hospital restructuring was implemented and managed in 1996 be related to nursing staff perceptions of hospital functioning in 1999? The findings showed positive but moderate relationships between more favorable restructuring processes and perceptions of hospital functioning.     

Selected methods of measuring workload among intensive care nursing staff

Intensive care units and well-qualified medical staff are indispensable for the proper functioning of every hospital facility. Due to demographic changes and technological progress having extended the average life expectancy, the number of patients hospitalized in intensive care units increases every year [9,10]. Global shortages of nursing staff (including changes in their age structure) have triggered a debate on the working environment and workload the nursing staff are exposed to while performing their duties. This paper provides a critical review of selected methods for the measurement of the workload of intensive care nurses and points out their practical uses. The paper reviews Polish and foreign literature on workload and the measurement tools used to evaluate workload indicators.     

Job satisfaction of nursing staff: integrative review

Job satisfaction consists of a feeling of wellbeing, resulting from the interaction of several occupational aspects, and may influence the worker's relationship with the organization, clients and family. Hence, it becomes important for the quality of nursing care to reflect on this topic in depth. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the scientific evidence related to job satisfaction in Brazilian nursing. An integrative literature review was carried out in the databases LILACS, MEDLINE, BDENF and Cochrane Library, totaling 17 publications, categorized in: Job Satisfaction, Job Dissatisfaction and Associated Factors. It was concluded that job satisfaction is determined by a complex network of factors and may vary depending on the group studied. Additional research, particularly of evidence level III in different nursing fields, covering all of Brazil, is necessary to support the implementation of occupational improvements.     

Hospital restructuring: positioning social work to manage change.

In the shifts to programmatic hospital organizations, social workers are having to learn to reframe their work, reorganize their thinking, and restructure their professional disciplines in order to survive. The experience is frequently one of frustration, anger, and impotence. Yet, social workers are masters of systems thinking in hospitals, and are well positioned to effect change. The beauty of shifting to a flattened hierarchy that is patient focused, is that it endorses change consistent with the social work mission in health. The challenge for social work is to grapple with the big issues: our belief in ourselves; defining our roles and functions and priorities; defining our vision in programmatic hospital organizations; being critical of what we do; and articulating what we have to offer. This paper identifies ways social workers can position themselves to effect positive change in hospitals undergoing restructuring.     

Group work: experiences of nursing students

This study aims at understanding the meaning attributed by undergraduate nursing students to the experience of group/team work. Based on the phenomenological framework. Individual interviews were conducted with nine students from the fourth year of the undergraduate program at the University of S?o Paulo at the Ribeir?o Preto College of Nursing. Later, these were analyzed according to Martins and Bicudo (1989). The following categories emerged: group work focused on subjects; group work experienced in the classroom; group work: relationship among students and among students and teachers; group work in the training field; are students prepared for group work? By taking into account that professional practice in healthcare has shown the need to be interdisciplinary and that academic education presents gaps, concerning the practice of group work, re-thinking about such education becomes relevant, since it will recover the understanding of complexity in human relations involving their political, institutional and interpersonal dimensions.     

Hospital restructuring and burnout

Increasingly, organizations are experiencing changes as a result of extensive downsizing, restructuring, and merging. In Canada, government-sponsored medicine has been affected as hospitals have merged or closed, reducing essential medical services and resulting in extensive job loss for hospital workers, particularly nurses. Hospital restructuring has also resulted in greater stress and job insecurity in nurses. The escalation of stressors has created burnout in nurses. This study examines predictors of burnout in nurses experiencing hospital restructuring using the MBI-General Survey which yields scores on three scales: Emotional exhaustion, Cynicism, and Professional efficacy. Multiple regressions were conducted where each burnout scale was the criterion and stressors (e.g., amount of work, use of generic workers to do nurses' work), restructuring effects, social support, and individual resources (e.g., control coping, self-efficacy, prior organizational commitment) were predictors. There were differences in the amount of variance accounted for in the burnout components by stressors and resources. Stressors contributed most to emotional exhaustion and least to professional efficacy. Individual resources were more likely to contribute to professional efficacy and least to emotional exhaustion. Stressors and resources accounted for approximately equal amounts of variance in cynicism. Three conclusions were drawn. First, present findings parallel others by showing that individual coping patterns contribute to professional efficacy. Second, emotional exhaustion was found to be the prototype of stress. Third, prior organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and control coping resulted in lower burnout.     

The impact of workplace empowerment, organizational trust on staff nurses' work satisfaction and organizational commitment

A predictive, nonexperimental design was used to test Kanter's work empowerment theory in a random sample of 412 staff nurses selected from the professional registry list of a central Canadian province. Kanter argues that work environments that provide access to information, support, resources, and opportunity to learn and develop are empowering and influence employee work attitudes, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. Test results suggest that fostering environments that enhance perceptions of empowerment will have positive effects on organizational members and increase organizational effectiveness.     

Psychosocial work environment and burnout among emergency medical and nursing staff

Objectives: The prevalence of burnout syndrome is increasing among doctors and nurses. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between the psychosocial work environment and burnout syndrome among emergency medical and nursing staff in Spain. A secondary aim was to determine if the effect of this psychosocial work environment on burnout was different for doctors and nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out by means of a mail questionnaire among 945 emergency doctors and nursing staff of Spain. The outcome variable was three dimensions of burnout syndrome [emotional exhaustion (EE), personal accomplishment (PA), depersonalisation (DP)]. The explanatory variable was that psychosocial work environment evaluated according to Karasek and Johnson’s demand-control model. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated by logistical regression. Results: The probability of high EE was greater among those exposed to high psychological demands, OR 4.66 (2.75–7.90), low job control, OR 1.65 (1.04–2.63), and low supervisors’ social support, OR 1.64 (1.01–2.59). Emotional exhaustion dimension was negatively influenced by low control only among doctors. Those exposed to low job control had a higher risk of low PA, OR 2.55 (1.66–3.94). There was no evidence of negative effect of psychosocial risk factors on the DP. Prevalence of EE and PA was higher among doctors and nurses. Conclusions: The presence of risk factors derived from work organisation within the work place (psychosocial risk factors) increases the probability of presenting burnout syndrome and, above all, EE.     

The embryo as moral work object: PGD/IVF staff views and experiences

We report on one aspect of a study that explored the views and experiences of practitioners and scientists on social, ethical and clinical dilemmas encountered when working in the field of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for serious genetic disorders. The study produced an ethnography based on observation, interviews and ethics discussion groups with staff from two PGD/IVF Units in the UK. We focus here on staff perceptions of work with embryos that entails disposing of 'affected' or 'spare' embryos or using them for research. A variety of views were expressed on the 'embryo question' in contrast to polarised media debates. We argue that the prevailing policy acceptance of destroying affected embryos, and allowing research on embryos up to 14 days leaves some staff with rarely reported, ambivalent feelings. Staff views are under-researched in this area and we focus on how they may reconcile their personal moral views with the ethical framework in their field. Staff construct embryos in a variety of ways as 'moral work objects'. This allows them to shift attention between micro-level and overarching institutional work goals, building on Casper's concept of 'work objects' and focusing on negotiation of the social order in a morally contested field.     

Health care restructuring, work environment, and health of nurses

BACKGROUND: In the last 15 years, the health care system has undergone significant restructuring. The study's objective was to examine the psychosocial work environment and the health of nurses after major restructuring in comparison with two reference populations. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 2,006 nurses from 16 health centers. A questionnaire measured current work characteristics: psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work from Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire, organizational changes, and health effects. Prevalence ratios and binomial regression were used to examine the associations between current work characteristics, changes and psychological distress (PSI). RESULTS: There was a considerable increase in the prevalence of PSI and of adverse psychosocial work factors in comparison to the prevalence reported by a comparable group of nurses in 1994. These adverse factors were also more prevalent among nurses than among Québec working women and they were independently associated with psychological distress. CONCLUSION: Workplace interventions should be based on elements identified by many nurses as being problematic.     

The evaluation of hospital restructuring efforts: satisfaction, quality, and costs

This article reports on study evaluating the effects of hospital restructuring on patient satisfaction, nurse satisfaction, cost of care, and clinical quality. The restructuring involved facility redesign, telecommunications enhancement, and implementation of patient care processes incorporating multiskilled personnel and case facilitation systems. The results indicate improved patient and nurse satisfaction, decreased length of stay and variable cost per patient day, and good clinical outcomes.     

Motivation and job satisfaction among medical and nursing staff in a Cyprus public general hospital

Background  

The objective of this study was to investigate how medical and nursing staff of the Nicosia General Hospital is affected by specific motivation factors, and the association between job satisfaction and motivation. Furthermore, to determine the motivational drive of socio-demographic and job related factors in terms of improving work performance.     

Determinants of staff job satisfaction of caregivers in two nursing homes in Pennsylvania

Background  

Job satisfaction is important for nursing home staff and nursing home management, as it is associated with absenteeism, turnover, and quality of care. However, we know little about factors associated with job satisfaction and dissatisfaction for nursing home workers.