Healthcare organizational stability rests on organizational commitment. This study adds to the literature that demonstrates the mediating effects of empowerment on organizational commitment in a long understudied population of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) employed full time. Organizational commitment encourages extra role behaviors, paramount in times of decreasing resources such as that facing all sectors of national health care. A 45-item work environment survey was distributed to all registered LPNs employed full time in one state (N = 5486) and 1164 (21%) responded. Data revealed that empowerment is associated with LPN organizational commitment and mediates effects of organizational conflict and trust on commitment to the organization. Further empowerment and organizational climate, especially organizational conflict and trust, matter to full-time LPNs. Results contribute to initial knowledge about linkages to organizational commitment among lower educated and less skilled nurses and have implications for managers in healthcare settings who employ full-time LPNs. LPNs may be more highly valued by scholars in nursing if LPN-sensitive research shows their continued value and cost effectiveness for specific and important organizational outcomes, especially in light of the growing geriatric population that will require increasingly chronic and routine care. As bedside RNs become more highly educated, they may increasingly disdain employment that involves the repetitive, low-risk patient care that LPNs currently provide. There is a real need to better understand the current work environment of those employees responsible for delivering low-risk repetitive healthcare to chronically ill and elderly patients. LPNs are key among those.

The profession of nursing is experiencing a shortage of qualified nursing professionals. Hospitals understaffed with nurses are likely to experience several negative consequences including low quality care, which places the health and safety of patients at risk. In order to ensure an effective selection process for hospital nurses, a structured situational interview, developed using a content validation approach, was validated using a criterion-related approach. Interviews that have a high degree of structure consistently demonstrate higher predictive validities with job performance than do interviews with less structure. The structured situational interview in this study had a high degree of structure and was developed after a job analysis was completed. Interviewee responses were evaluated using a behavioral summation scale. The results of the current study confirmed the hypothesis that there would be a positive relationship between nursing student interview scores and Grade Point Average, thus indicating that the structured interview should be useful in the selection of professionals in the field of nursing. However, the observed validity coefficient (r = .29) was lower than expected based on a review of previous research on the criterion-related validity of structured situational interviews. It is recommended that future research with this instrument use a larger sample of nurse incumbents as participants and nurse managers as interviewers. Additional interview items, developed following a content validity approach, would likely increase the reliability and the validity of the interview

Bakgrund Omvårdnadspersonalen är viktig för fallpreventivt arbete inom särskilt boende för äldre då de arbetar närmast patienterna. Det är viktigt att undersöka omvårdnadspersonalens syn på fallpreventivt arbete för att få ökad förståelse för hur omvårdnadspersonal kan stöttas i det fallpreventiva arbetet. Syfte Att utforska omvårdnadspersonalens upplevelser av fallprevention och samarbete med fysioterapeut i det fallpreventiva arbetet på särskilt boende. Metod En kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. 11 personer som arbetade på särskilda boenden ingick i studien. Databearbetning genomfördes i form av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat Analysen gav fem kategorier och tjugo subkategorier, De fem huvudkategorierna bestod av: Miljöfaktorer påverkar fallrisk, Individfaktorer påverkar fallrisk, Strategier som omvårdnadspersonalen använder vid ökad fallrisk direkt gentemot kunden, Samarbetsstrategier som omvårdnadspersonalen använder vid ökad fallrisk, Samarbete mellan omvårdnadspersonal och fysioterapeut. Konklusion Studien visade att omvårdnadspersonalens upplevelser av det fallpreventiva arbetet innefattade identifiering av riskfaktorer hos individ och miljö. De använde strategier vid ökad fallrisk direkt gentemot kund och ett bra kommunikativt samarbete med fysioterapeut, anhöriga och övrig vårdpersonal var betydelsefullt för det fallpreventiva arbetet på särskilt boende. Omvårdnadspersonal önskade stöd från fysioterapeut i form av praktisk hjälp med fallriskbedömning och information om specifika och generella fallpreventiva åtgärder.