title: Nurse work engagement impacts job outcome and nurse-assessed quality of care: model testing with nurse practice environment and nurse work characteristics as predictors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the mechanisms through which nurse practice environment dimensions, such as nurse-physician relationship, nurse management at the unit level and hospital management and organizational support, are associated with job outcomes and nurse-assessed quality of care. Mediating variables included nurse work characteristics of workload, social capital, decision latitude, as well as work engagement dimensions of vigor, dedication and absorption.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Understanding how to support and guide nurse practice communities in their daily effort to answer complex care most accurate, alongside with the demand of a stable and healthy nurse workforce, is challenging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on earlier empirical findings, a structural equation model, designed with valid measurement instruments, was tested. The study population included registered acute care hospital nurses (N = 1201) in eight hospitals across Belgium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nurse practice environment dimensions predicted nurses' ratings of job outcome variables as well as quality of care. Features of nurses' work characteristics, e.g., perceived workload, decision latitude, social capital, and the three dimension of work engagement, played mediating roles between nurse practice environment and outcomes. A revised model, using various fit measures, explained 60% of job outcomes and 47% of nurse-assessed quality of care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings in this study show that nurse work characteristics as workload, decision latitude, and social capital, alongside with nurse work engagement (e.g., vigor, dedication, and absorption) influence nurses' perspective of their nurse practice environment, job outcomes, and quality of care. The results underline aspects to considerate for various stakeholders, such as executives, nurse managers, physicians, and staff nurses, in setting up and organizing health care services.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research and Innovation in Care, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium ; Nursing, Antwerp University Hospital Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Bogaert
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research and Innovation in Care, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium ; Nursing, Antwerp University Hospital Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Heusden
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research and Innovation in Care, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium ; Academy of Health and Welfare, HZ University of Applied Sciences Vlissingen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Timmermans
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research and Innovation in Care, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium ; Department of Health Care, Karel de Grote University College Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franck
keywords: burnout; job satisfaction; nurse practice environment; nurse retention; quality of care; structural equation modeling