Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology in Nursing. Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / INTRODUCTION A four-year diploma nursing programme undertaken by the KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing provides training to students to become professional nurses. However, it has been noted that absenteeism of student nurses enrolled in this programme has increased. Absenteeism could result in demotion, extension of training or termination of students from the programme. This would result in fewer student nurses completing training and therefore a shortage of professional nurses. AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of the study was to determine the causes and effects of absenteeism amongst student nurses that are currently registered for a four-year diploma programme (R425) in the KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing (KZNCN). METHODOLOGY A quantitative method was used, which comprised two phases, namely, data collection through the use of a self-administered questionnaire and a retrospective record review. Simple random sampling was used to select students from the peri-urban Midlands and rural uGu districts. Stratified random sampling of 301 student nurses at different levels of training from the three campuses was done. A total of 301 questionnaires were distributed to participants; all were returned, resulting in a 100% response rate. During a retrospective record review student records were examined to assess clinical and theoretical performance of students. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS version 22.0. RESULTS The results of the study revealed that students experienced problems in the clinical/practical areas that resulted in them absenting themselves. There were 14 terminations of training due to absenteeism. Student nurses who did not absent themselves obtained entry to the examination, whilst students with excessive absenteeism did not obtain entry to the examination.

Job redesign could significantly impact the efficiency was obtained. This survey was comprised of nineteen scales with of the organization. The purpose of this descriptive, comparative study was to describe and compare job characteristics, general job satisfaction, and motivation potential of the job in order to diagnose the job profile of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nursing assistants.The convenience sample consisted of all staff nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nursing assistants working at a 515 bed Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the midwest who voluntarily agreed to complete the Job Diagnostic Survey. A response rate of 36.8% (n = 118) to measure the degree of job characteristics, motivating potential of the job, psychological states, growth need strength, general job satisfaction, and satisfaction context factors present in the current job.Mean scores were computed to measure each variable. All means for each job category were found to be over the midpoint (3.5). Growth need strength was significantly lower than the normative data for RN's and LPN's. Task identity and experienced responsibility for work outcomes were significantly lower than the norm for LPN's assigned to the acute medical area. Motivating potential was significantly lower for nursing assistants assigned to the acute medical and the long term psychiatric area.Adjusting staff assignments to encourage continuity and observation of patient outcomes, and providing direct feedback regarding performance to staff members from nurse managers were implications. Implications include combining tasks to provide a more identifiable job and enable the worker to visualize patient outcomes to a greater degree. Recommendations included further research utilizing the JDS, including comparison of various types of nurse jobs. Statistical analysis in future studies should include comparisons of these different groups. / School of Nursing

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses participate in ethical decision making, and to describe the role NICU nurses have in the ethical decision making process.This study replicated a 1991 study conducted by Elizondo. According to Lowe, 1991, replication research is the repeating of a study for the purposes of validating the findings of the original investigation. The traditional theory of utilitarianism provides the theoretical framework for this study, a goal-based approach to ethical decison making that focuses on consequences of actions. Findings provide information about satisfaction and conflicts related to nurse participation in ethical deecision making in the NICU.The Nurse Participation in Ethical Decision Making (NPEDM) questionnaire (Elizondo, 1991) was used for data collection. Of fifty NICU nurses, seventeen (34%) of the sample completed the questionnaire. Confidentiality was maintained. Results showed that all respondents were able to identify methods that are used for participation in ethical decision making. Informal conversations with physicians was identified as the primary method of participation. Forty-one percent of respondents were satisfied with the nurse's role in ethical decision making. Forty-seven percent were only somewhat satisfied.An indication of satisfaction demonstrated by 100% of the study sample was that nurses' ideas are respected by other health care professionals.Findings indicated that a significant positive relationship exists between role satisfaction and study variables. Eighty-eight percent of respondents stated that conflicts related to participation were experienced. Overwhelmingly, respondents felt that the primary source of conflicts were with physicians. These findings are consistent with results reported in the original study.When asked what factors impact on how decisions are made, 40% of respondents indicated that ethical decisions are often impacted by generalized decisions based on viability of the neonate as determined by the gestational age, and "quality of life."Seventy-six percent of respondents believed nurses should be more involved in the ethical decision making. Conferences with physicians and parents was identified by 69% of the study sample. This study found that the older the nurse, the more satisfied with role in the ethical decison making process. Length of employment also contributed positively to satisfaction in ethical decision making. The more educated the nurse, the more satisfied with role in the ethical decision making process. Nurses were less satisfied if conflicts were experienced or identified.Findings suggest that collaborative relationships exist between nurses and other health team members and that nurses feel some sense of fulfillment with their role in the ethical decision making process. It was concluded that many issues were unsolved and need to be discussed. / School of Nursing

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the job satisfaction and motivating potential of nursing jobs would be higher for nurses using Patient Focused Care (PFC) compared with nurses not using PFC. Nurses from a large metropolitan hospital served as subjects. Data were collected using three instruments designed to measure job satisfaction and motivating potential. Those instruments were the Job Diagnostic Survey, the Job Descriptive Inventory, and the McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale. It was hypothesized that nurses working on PFC nursing units would demonstrate greater job satisfaction and motivating potential than nurses working on non-PFC nursing units. The hypotheses were not supported. Results were explained by, among other things, accounting for the nature of the instruments used. The two instruments which gave data counter to the hypothesized direction were not nursing-oriented.

M.Cur. / The overall objective of this study is to measure the level of work satisfaction among nurses at Athlone, Lobatse Mental and Scottish Livingstone hospitals, and develop guidelines for the nursing service manager to facilitate work satisfaction. The nursing service manager is responsible and accountable for quality personnel management. Personnel management involves the adequate provision and utilisation of personnel as well as the retention and development of personnel. In view of existing problems such as high turnover rates, too much work and the public's concerns about the standard of nursing, there is need to regularly evaluate the level of work satisfaction among nurses. Hence the study address the formulation of guidelines for the nursing service manager to facilitate work satisfaction and empower nurses. Emanating from the above the following questions are relevant: What is the level of work satisfaction among nurses in the three government hospitals ? What measures need to be put in place in order to increase work satisfaction among nurses ?

The literature is replete with studies and information about registered nurse burnout, compassion fatigue, and turnover rates. Registered nurses enhance and bring benefits to the health care system, but stressful health care environments may contribute to their self-neglect and may adversely affect their decision to remain working at the bedside. Retention of registered nurses is necessary for the delivery of patient care. An investigation of self-compassion among registered nurses in the clinical workplace may help to understand how registered nurses deal with the pressures of the health care setting. In addition, there is a need for research to clarify what self-compassion looks like among nurses and how it may foster caring for themselves, nurse retention, and the delivery of quality patient care. This qualitative study used a phenomenological method designed to illuminate registered nurses’ experiences of self-compassion in clinical practice. Also, findings from this study will contribute to the body of knowledge of self-compassion in the context of registered nurses. Van Manen’s phenomenological research method of the six activities were used to guide the study. Nine registered nurses were interviewed about their experiences of being kind and compassionate toward oneself in the clinical work setting. Transcripts of the study participants’ interviews were analyzed and four essential themes emerged that shed light on these nurses’ experiences of self-compassion: (1) Transforming Time Famine; (2) Authentic Communication and Presence, (3) Collegial Cohesion, and (4) Evolution Toward an Ideal Registered Nurse. Most of the participants in this study shared stressful situations in the clinical workplace along with encouraging learning points through their stories of being kind to themselves in the workplace while caring for others.

Orientador: Wilsa Carla Spiri / Banca: Magda Crisitina Queiroz Dell'Acqua / Banca: Andrea Bernardes / Resumo: O ambiente de trabalho é um dos fatores intervenientes da qualidade assistencial ao usuário. Os processos de acreditação hospitalar avaliam a qualidade e contribuem para o alcance da excelência. Correlacionar o ambiente de trabalho com a certificação de qualidade pode contribuir com o conhecimento nessa temática. Dentre as possibilidades de identificar o ambiente de trabalho das organizações de saúde o instrumento Nursing Work Index - Revised (NWI-R) tem sido utilizado em diferentes culturas e ambientes da prática do enfermeiro. O NWI-R foi traduzido, adaptado e validado para a cultura brasileira e denominado Nursing Work Index - Revised - Versão Brasileira (B-NWI-R). Esse estudo tem como objetivo analisar o ambiente de trabalho do enfermeiro de dois hospitais públicos, comparar o ambiente de trabalho desses hospitais e compreender os fatores relacionados ao ambiente de trabalho do enfermeiro que mais interferem no processo de trabalho. Foi realizado estudo na abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. Na quantitativa foram dois estudos transversais em paralelo, com enfermeiros assistenciais dos hospitais entre janeiro a setembro de 2014. O hospital A não era acreditado e o hospital B acreditado (nível 1). A coleta de dados foi por meio de um questionário com dados sóciodemográficos laborais e o B-NWI-R com 57 itens e quatro domínios: autonomia, controle sobre o ambiente, relacionamento médico e enfermeiro e suporte organizacional. A confiabilidade do instrumento foi medida pelo alpha de Cronbach. Responderam o instrumento 106 enfermeiros, 50 do hospital A e 56 do B. Na qualitativa adotou-se a análise de conteúdo, com oito gerentes de enfermagem. A coleta dos dados utilizou entrevistas audiogravadas e semiestruturadas com a questão norteadora: "Segundo sua perspectiva, quais são os fatores relacionados ao ambiente de trabalho do enfermeiro que mais interferem no processo de trabalho deles?" As entrevistas duraram... / Abstract: The working environment is one of the influencing factors of service quality to the user. The hospital accreditation process evaluates the quality and contributes to the achievement of excellence. Correlating the working environment with quality certification can contribute to the knowledge in this subject. Among the possibilities of identifying the working environment of health organizations the source Nursing Work Index - Revised (NWI-R) has been used in different cultures and nursing practice environments. The NWI-R was translated, adapted and validated for the Brazilian culture and called Nursing Work Index - Revised - Brazilian version (B-NWI-R). This study aims to analyze the working environment of nurses from two public hospitals, compare their environment and understand the factors related to nurses' workplace that affect the work process. A study was conducted in quantitative and qualitative approach. The quantitative research covered two cross-sectional studies in parallel, with hospital nurses between January and September 2014. Hospital A was not accredited and Hospital B was accredited (level 1). Data collection was carried through a questionnaire with labor socio-demographic data and the B-NWI-R with 57 items and four areas: autonomy, control over the working environment, doctor and nurse relationship and organizational support. The reliability of such resource was measured by Cronbach's alpha. The test was answered by 106 nurses, 50 from Hospital A and 56 from Hospital B. The qualitative research adopted the content analysis, with eight nursing managers. Data collection used audio recorded and semi-structured interviews with the guiding question: "According to your perspective, what are the factors related to the nursing working environment that interfere in the working process?" The interviews lasted 30 minutes. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, Platform Brazil No. 23304713.4.0000.5411. The ... / Mestre

Thesis (M.A. (Nursing Science)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / Introduction and background The shortage of human resources in rural areas remains a crisis, especially in subSaharan Africa, affecting rural primary health centres. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe factors influencing the retention of health care workers in rural clinics, in order to develop strategies to improve retention in rural clinics. Methodology A quantitative research method and descriptive design was used in this study. The population was professional nurses and operational managers in rural clinics. Simple random sampling was used to select the clinics, the professional nurses and operational managers. The sample size were 210 professional nurses and operational managers. Only 170 professional nurses and operational managers participated in the study. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and all ethical principles were adhered to. The data was analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Results The study revealed that there are complex interconnecting factors that affect retention. It was further revealed that age is the core factor affecting retention (P= 0.001) with 19 (100%) of those aged < 30 years intending to leave rural practice. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents 118 (87.06%) were dissatisfied with the salary they earned. Only 1 (0.6%) of the respondents had a masters’ degree. Conclusion It is therefore concluded that both financial and non-financial incentives such as education, improving working conditions and relationship with colleagues needs to be incorporated in order to improve nurse retention. Key words: Retention, migration, rural health care workers, job satisfaction

Workplace mistreatment (bullying, horizontal violence, and incivility) has been shown to impact nurses’ work satisfaction, job turnover, and physical and mental health. However, there are limited studies that examine its effect on patient outcomes. A correlational descriptive study of 79 acute care nurses was used to test a social justice model for examining the relationship between workplace mistreatment, quantified as threats to dimensions of nurses’ well-being (health, personal security, reasoning, respect, attachment, and self-determination), and nurses’ ability to provide quality patient care. In addition, this study considered the moderating effect of caring work environment among co-workers on nurses’ ability to provide quality patient care in the face of workplace mistreatment. Stories of workplace mistreatment were collected anonymously and analyzed for alignment with threats to six dimensions of well-being. Ability to provide patient care was measured using the Healthcare Productivity Survey and a caring work environment was measured via the Culture of Companionate Love scale. The results demonstrated that threats to all six dimensions of well-being described by Powers and Faden (2006) were expressed in nurses’ stories of workplace mistreatment. Furthermore, 87% reported a decrease in ability to provide patient care after an incident of workplace mistreatment. Yet frequency of threatened dimensions did not have a significant relationship with ability to provide patient care. Moreover, there was a significant moderator effect of the caring work environment on the relationship between number of threatened dimensions of well-being and ability to provide quality patient care. Nurses in high caring environments loss less ability to provide care than nurses in low caring environments when one to three dimensions of well-being were threatened. However, this relationship reversed when four or more dimensions were threatened. Implications include further research on the relationship between workplace mistreatment and nurse well-being and changing practice to include fostering a caring work environment in healthcare facilities. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice