Home care nurses' descriptions of important agency attributes.
OBJECTIVE
To identify attributes of home care agencies described by nurses as important to their professional practice and job satisfaction.


METHODS
Seven focus groups with home health care staff nurses were conducted at 6 home care agencies located in three states in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A total of 58 home care nurses participated in the study.


METHODS
Transcriptions of tape-recorded focus groups were subjected to open and axial coding techniques.


RESULTS
Six major categories and eight subcategories of organizational attributes described by home care nurses as important to the support of their practice and job satisfaction were identified.


CONCLUSIONS
Attributes described by home health nurses were not only similar to those described by hospital-based nurses as reported in the "magnet hospital" literature, but they also were consistent with key concepts described in theories of professional workforce organization. Findings provide insight into developing workplace environments to support home care nurses.
Flynn
Linda
L
College of Nursing, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA. flynn@nightingale.rutgers.edu
Deatrick
Janet A
JA
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000592:standards; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008873:Mid-Atlantic Region; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory / Q000592:standards; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000592:standards; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D012637:Security Measures / Q000592:standards; D012944:Social Support; D016526:Workload; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards