Nurses’ Reports On Hospital Care In Five Countries

Abstract

The current nursing shortage, high hospital nurse job dissatisfaction, and reports of uneven quality of hospital care are not uniquely American phenomena. This paper presents reports from 43,000 nurses from more than 700 hospitals in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and Germany in 1998-1999. Nurses in countries with distinctly different health care systems report similar shortcomings in their work environments and the quality of hospital care. While the competence of and relation between nurses and physicians appear satisfactory, core problems in work design and workforce management threaten the provision of care. Resolving these issues, which are amenable to managerial intervention, is essential to preserving patient safety and care of consistently high quality.

Occupational stress, job satisfaction, and working environment among Icelandic nurses: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey

“…The findings that 'opportunities to practice the professional role of nursing' and 'unscheduled work' contributed significantly to the production of stress is consistent with the findings of a study done on 43.000 nurses in USA, Canada, England, Scotland, and Germany (Aiken et al, 2001). This study found that in all of these countries, except Germany, minority of nurses perceived that they have opportunities for advancements.…”

Attention Demands in the Workplace and the Capacity to Direct Attention of Nurses

“…The environment of professional nursing practice has been the focus of national and international studies, due to two factors, the first related to the quality of care provided, with the main aspect being patient safety (1)(2) and the second, related to the reduction or the shortage of these professionals (3)(4)(5) .…”

Nursing care and patient outcomes: international evidence

“…Decreases in the length of hospital stays combined with increases in patient acuity, heavier nursing workloads, and sparse staffing are the unfortunate results of these cost saving measures [2][3][4] . Recent studies show that Hospital-based bedside nurses are burnedout, emotionally exhausted, and highly dissatisfied with their jobs 5 . Given the current and ongoing nursing shortage, the detrimental effects on the nursing workforce from unsupportive and under staffed work environments predicts poor prospects for recruiting adequate numbers of nurses and gives cause for concern when countries grapple with the serious current and projected shortfall in the supply of nurses.…”