Quality of professional life of primary healthcare nurses: A systematic review

Abstract

Aims:To identify and critically appraise the available evidence on the overall quality of professional life of primary care nurses worldwide and its main influencing factors.Background: Quality of professional life of healthcare workers is a keystone that influences the quality of healthcare services provided by healthcare organisations.Nurses have a key role as healthcare services providers given the growing shortage of doctors in primary care.Design: A systematic review design in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Methods:The search was conducted through MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, SCOPUS, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Web of Science databases.The grey literature was reviewed at OpenGrey. The search was limited to human studies published from April 2010-April 2020. No limit of original language publication was applied. Three independent reviewers analysed the methodological quality of the studies.Results: Ten studies were included from five countries. Five studies reported nurses were satisfied with their quality of professional life and the influencing factors identified were Workload, Job autonomy, Demographic variables, Management support, Recognition, Intrinsic motivation, Interpersonal relations, Compassion fatigue, Burnout, Turnover intention, and work was reported as a component of Quality of life. Conclusion:Primary healthcare nurses reported a high level of quality of professional life, but the scarce studies found do not provide solid consistency to assess the overall quality of professional life. Perception of high workload was the most frequently identified factor to negatively influence the quality of professional life of nurses.Relevance to clinical practice: Quality of professional life of primary care nurses is a key issue because of nurses' important relation with patient's care and satisfaction. Healthcare organisations should strive to address primary care nurses' quality of professional life to enhance their well-being and consequently patients' safety and high-quality healthcare services.

Understanding registered nurses’ career choices in home care services: a qualitative study

“…This will benefit both employer and employees need for development [ 80 ]. Home care services could offer mentors, role models, interesting work tasks, encourage voice, feedback and support in order to provide high-quality work experiences, as lack of support, uninspiring work tasks, and time constraints could lead to stress and frustration and preclude employment in home care services [ 25 , 27 , 81 ].…”

“…The shortage of registered nurses means that they can choose between many career options. Researchers have investigated the most and least satisfying aspects of work in primary health care [ 25 ], nurses’ job satisfaction and quality of life [ 26 , 27 ], and why home care nurses remain in their jobs [ 28 , 29 ]. Results of these studies identified autonomy, work-life balance, interaction with patients, role diversity, and patient-family interaction as satisfying aspects of work in primary health care and influence nurses’ intention to remain.…”

“…Results of these studies identified autonomy, work-life balance, interaction with patients, role diversity, and patient-family interaction as satisfying aspects of work in primary health care and influence nurses’ intention to remain. In contrast, low pay, lack of a career path, time constraints and workload have been identified as the least satisfying aspects of work in primary health care [ 25 , 27 ]. Although these studies increased our knowledge of important aspects of nurses’ career in primary health care, there is still a need for a more detailed understanding of what affects nurses’ career choices in home care services [ 30 , 31 ].…”

The relationship between the perceived risk of infection at the workplace and quality of work life (QoWL): Healthcare workers’ perspectives

“…Different studies have examined the QoWL impact on the quality of service offered to patients worldwide, as working pressures and a lack of suitable stress management techniques may affect the psychological and physical well-being of medical professionals (Laserna Jiménez et al, 2021; Lebni et al, 2021). The QoWL is essential to healthcare institution management, and they constantly strive to improve it through their human resource department (Hemanathan et al, 2017).…”

Autonomous competences and quality of professional life of paediatric nurses in primary care, their relationship and associated factors: A cross‐sectional study

“…Since quality of professional life influences quality of healthcare services and quality of care provided, it is a core issue for healthcare organisations. However, a recent systematic review on the quality of professional life of primary healthcare nurses worldwide reported the absence of consistent scientific evidence on the overall quality of professional life score of primary healthcare nurses (Laserna Jiménez, Casado Montañés et al, 2021 ).…”