The quality of work life of registered nurses in Canada and the United States: a comprehensive literature review

Abstract

Background: Workplace environment is related to the physical and psychological well-being, and quality of work life (QWL) for nurses. Objective: The aim of this paper was to perform a comprehensive literature review on nurses' quality of work life to identify a comprehensive set of QWL predictors for nurses employed in the United States and Canada. Methods: Using publications from 2004-2014, contributing factors to American and Canadian nurses' QWL were analyzed. The review was structured using the Work Disability Prevention Framework. Sixty-six articles were selected for analysis. Results: Literature indicated that changes are required within the workplace and across the health care system to improve nurses' QWL. Areas for improvement to nurses' quality of work life included treatment of new nursing graduates, opportunities for continuing education, promotion of positive collegial relationships, stress-reduction programs, and increased financial compensation. Conclusions: This review's findings support the importance of QWL as an indicator of nurses' broader workrelated experiences. A shift in health care systems across Canada and the United States is warranted where health care delivery and services are improved in conjunction with the health of the nurses working in the system.

Job burnout and quality of working life among Chinese nurses: A cross‐sectional study

“…Similar results were showed in Akter et al () 's and Moradi et al () 's studies, which mentioned that high‐income nurses had better QoWL than low‐income nurses. A comprehensive literature review also reported that a good enough income was significantly correlated with nurses' QoWL (Nowrouzi et al, ). The possible explanation of the positive association between income and QoWL is that nurses use incomes to support their family, and if they receive higher incomes, they can take good care of their parents and children, and fulfil family members' needs, so as to enjoy a better QoWL (Akter et al, ).…”

“…Other studies also reported similar results. Numerous studies have shown that the QoWL among nurses is at moderate to low level, and changes are required to improve nurses' QoWL in the current health care environment (Akter et al, ; Nowrouzi et al, ). In our study, factors affecting nurses' QoWL included job burnout, hospital level, age, income, night shift and patient‐to‐nurse ratio.…”

“…The QoWL of tertiary hospitals' nurses in our study was worse than secondary hospitals' nurses. Research has shown evidence that nurses' burnout could vary in the different hospitals and units and in turn affects nurses' QoWL (Chen, Davis, Daraiseh, Pan, & Davis, ; Nowrouzi et al, ). Tertiary hospitals in China are primarily responsible for providing acute and critical care, high‐quality nursing services and specialty treatment.…”

“…Studies have demonstrated that nurses who engaged in night work suffer varieties of work stresses and emotional distress. For instance, they may face heavy workloads, scattered work requirements, overtime, acute fatigue and impaired sleep, which lead to increased errors and decreased patient safety (de Cordova, Bradford, & Stone, ; Kwak, Kim, Han, & Seo, ; Nowrouzi et al, ). In addition, shift nurses find it difficult to balance their work, family and social life, and they often have to sacrifice break time to meet family and friends.…”

“…Hospital and nursing managers should develop strategies to reduce nurses' job burnout and improve their QoWL in the current clinical settings. More favourable hospitable work environment include (a) increase nursing personnel and optimum nurse staffing to achieve the highest quality of patient care (Li et al, ; Park, Lee, & Park, ); (b) provide old nurses with shorter shift work or equip napping space for nurses (Chen et al, ); (c) offer reasonable pecuniary compensation, which is related to nurses work experience, night shifts and job value (Nowrouzi et al, ); (d) establish an appropriate shift work schedule with less evening shifts during a week and longer breaks for night shift nurses (de Cordova et al, ); and (e) develop job burnout intervention programmes for hospital nurses, such as mindfulness‐based programmes. Mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) has been widely known and conducted in clinical populations (Kabat‐Zinn, ).…”