Nursing work environment and quality of care: differences between units at the same hospital.
The literature suggests that improvements in nurses' work environments may improve the quality of patient care. Furthermore, monitoring the work environment through staff surveys may be a feasible method of identifying opportunities for quality improvement. This study aimed to confirm five proposed sub-scales from the Nursing Work Index - Revised (NWI-R) to assess the nursing work environment and the performance of these sub-scales across different units in a hospital. Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 243 nurses from 13 units of a 300-bed university-affiliated hospital in Quebec, Canada, during 2001. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the five subscales were confirmed; three of the sub-scales had greater ability to discriminate between units. Using hierarchical regression models, "resource adequacy" was the sub-scale most strongly associated with the perceived quality of care at the last shift. The NWI-R sub-scales are potentially useful for comparison of work environments of different nursing units at the same hospital.
McCusker
Jane
J
Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies and Quality Assessment Unit, St Mary's Hospital, Montreal, Canada.
Dendukuri
Nandini
N
Cardinal
Linda
L
Laplante
Johanne
J
Bambonye
Linda
L
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002170:Canada; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006272:Health Facility Environment / Q000145:classification; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009738:Nursing Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011792:Quebec; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017749:Total Quality Management; D017132:Workplace / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology