Staff satisfaction in short stay wards.
Two Short Stay Wards (SSWs) have been opened in a large teaching hospital in Sydney's outer Western suburbs, as a means of overcoming budget constraints and a shortage of nurses prepared to work conventional rosters. This paper reports a survey of the attitudes of medical and nursing staff using these two SSWs. Overall, medical personnel were found to hold positive attitudes to the SSWs and reported higher patient turnover as a result of their opening. Identified barriers to usage of the wards included scheduling of operating suite time, and lack of flexibility in the booking, admission and movement of SSW patients. Nurses who work in the SSWs have chosen to work under these special nursing conditions. They were found to be particularly satisfied with their work hours, rapport with patients and other staff, the high patient turnover and varied case mix. Sources of dissatisfaction included Friday night duty and deployment, and the administrative procedures practised by medical staff, including difficulties in contacting them.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007588:Job Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D009517:New South Wales; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce