 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Doris C. Vahey, PhD, RN1, Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN2, Douglas Sloane, PhD2, and Sean P. Clarke, PhD, RN2. (1) Professional Practice Programs, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1168, New York, NY 10029-6574, 212-659-9311, doris.vahey@msnyuhealth.org, (2) Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania, 420 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6096
Background. A rapidly changing and increasingly complex health care marketplace has created challenges for providing high quality health care. Caregivers and care recipients alike must adapt to a variety of new circumstances that affect their sense of well-being.
Objectives. This study examines the direct effect of the nurse work environment on nurse burnout, and the direct and indirect effects of the nurse work environment on patients’ satisfaction with their nursing care.
Research Design/Subjects. Cross-sectional surveys of nurses (N=820) and patients (N=621) from 40 units in 20 urban hospitals across the United States.
Measures. Nurses completed questionnaires that included a measure of the work environment derived from the revised Nursing Work Index (NWI-R), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and a number of background questions and questions about their work. Patient were interviewed about their satisfaction with nursing care using items from the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS) and about their personal and medical histories.
Results. Nurses working on units with poor work environments were more than one-and-a-half times as likely to report high emotional exhaustion and high depersonalization as their counterparts. Patients on units with good nurse work environments were more than twice as likely to report high satisfaction with their care. The work environment affected patient satisfaction directly and indirectly through its effect on nurse burnout.
Conclusions. These findings reinforce the need for enduring change in the workplace that would both reduce nurses’ high levels of job burnout and risk of turnover while maintaining patients’ satisfaction with their care.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.