Improving Patient Care by Improving Nurses' Work Environment

 

Workgroup cohesion is significant
for nurses' ratings of quality of
patient care; © Fabrice Michaudeau/
panthermedia.net

A study of the New York University indicates that there are other aspects of registered nurses' (RNs) work environments that RNs perceive can also have a significant impact on the quality of care they deliver.

While nurse-to-patient ratios are widely recognised as an important factor in determining the quality of patient care, those ratios are not always easy to change without significant cost and investment of resources. What's more, the projected nursing shortage will make it even more difficult for hospitals to increase nurse staffing.

In order of influence, those factors are: physical work environment, workgroup cohesion, nurse-physician relations, procedural justice and job satisfaction. Nurses' ratings of patient care quality were also higher in hospitals with Magnet recognition programs, and lower in work settings with greater organisational constraints such as lack of equipment and supplies.

"There has been a great deal of research into the impact of nurse staffing on patient care, but we know that increasing nurse-to-patient ratios is not always possible," said Maja Djukic. "What we found in our study is that hospital administrators can improve a variety of work environment factors that are also likely to improve the quality of patient care, without having to change nurse-to-patient ratios. Improvements need to be strategic, because our work shows that the value of enhancing work environment varies across different factors."

For example, the researchers found that Magnet recognition has nearly the same impact on nurses' ratings of patient care quality as workgroup cohesion, but investing in workgroup cohesion is significantly less costly and complicated than applying for and earning Magnet recognition. Additionally, improvements in physical work environment are likely to yield a greater benefit for quality of patient care, as perceived by RNs, than improvements in nurse-physician relations. Then again, implementing a team building program is likely to be less costly than remodelling a hospital unit.

Nonetheless, if a hospital is planning to remodel, incorporating RNs' preferences into the physical environment design could result in changes that improve the quality of patient care.

REHACARE.de; Source: New York University