[Power or its absence in nursing].
Power is required to obtain professional goals. The aim of this study is to clarify the significance of power and the lack of it in the opinions of nurses and in prevailing nursing practice. The power of the nurse was measured by the nurse's own assessment of her/his capability to improve the quality of nursing care. The data were collected from all the registered nurses (n = 179) of five hospitals. The response was 70%. The powerful nurses had more knowledge, were better motivated, implemented policies more often, acted consciously towards nursing goals and collaborated better than the powerless nurses. The results demonstrated that nurses who had enough power possessed both wider and deeper cognitive and moral dimensions and had better skills in human interaction than did the powerless nurses.
Raatikainen
R
R
Departement General Practice and Primary Health Care, Lääkärinkatu, Helsinki, Finnland.
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011361:Professional Competence; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires