The Relationship Between Critical Care Work Environment and Professional Quality of Life

Abstract

Background Professional quality of life is the quality a person feels in relation to work. For critical care nurses, it is composed of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Professional quality of life is affected by work environment. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has identified 6 standards for a healthy work environment. Objective To explore which of the AACN healthy work environment standards have the strongest impact on professional quality of life in critical care nurses. Methods In an exploratory, cross-sectional survey of nurses working in 4 adult critical care units of a single health care facility, professional quality of life was assessed using the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL), and work environment was evaluated using the AACN Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool. Results Participants reported compassion satisfaction and burnout levels as average and secondary traumatic stress levels as high. The composite average for all 6 AACN healthy work environment standards was good. A multiple regression analysis revealed true collaboration, effective decision-making, and authentic leadership as significant predictors of compassion satisfaction. Authentic leadership was the only predictor of burnout. Appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership were predictors of secondary traumatic stress. Conclusion Authentic leadership is the strongest predictor of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Therefore, improving leadership should be a priority in intensive care units seeking to improve nurses’ professional quality of life.

Well‐being of nurses and working conditions—Are polish nurses different from doctors and midwives in terms of professional quality of life?

“…In the group of physicians, there was no correlation between the variables studied and occupational satisfaction, professional burnout, and compassion fatigue. respect (Jarrad & Hammad, 2020;Monroe et al, 2020). Research conducted among nursing staff indicates large deficits in the implementation of the above conditions, which may be confirmed by the results obtained in the study (Babiarczyk, Fraś, Ulman-Włodarz, & Jarosova, 2014;Kupcewicz, Szczypiński, & Kędzia, 2018).…”

“…People spend more and more time at work; it has also become more and more complex and demanding. Research shows that the conditions and nature of work, income, employment stability, autonomy and the possibility of professional development are factors that have a significant impact on job satisfaction (Delgado et al, 2020; Monroe, Morse, & Price, 2020; Ruiz‐Fernández, Pérez‐García, & Ortega‐Galán, 2020) To a large extent, this also applies to medical professions where the profession often becomes a social role that imposes a series of duties and obligations on people. Medical professions are characterized by a similar nature: responsibility for the health and life of the patient, working under time pressure, a large number of duties with a shortage of personnel, shift work, etc.…”

“…In addition, it should be noted that Poland is a country struggling with a shortage of nursing staff, which leads to a significant overload of duties, which in turn promotes overwork and chronic stress (Haczyński et al, 2017). Chronic stress promotes burnout, lowering the feeling of satisfaction (Monroe et al, 2020). The obtained results are consistent with the reports of other authors who emphasize that the factors determining the level of job satisfaction are satisfying interpersonal relationships at work, professional achievements, the possibility of professional development, autonomy, recognition of superiors, and respect (Jarrad & Hammad, 2020; Monroe et al, 2020).…”

The relationships among alarm fatigue, compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction in critical care and step‐down nurses

“…The ProQOL measure has been determined to be a reliable and valid instrument through previous research (Dikmen et al, 2016; Fahey & Glasofer, 2016; Monroe, 2020; Stamm, 2005). Internal consistency reliability of the ProQOL measure in this current study was examined using Cronbach's α coefficient.…”

Intention to immigration and its relationship with workload and healthy work environment in nurses

“…Other studies have shown that the healthy work environment of Iranian nurses is Inappropriate (Hoseini Es darjani et al, 2018;Salehi et al, 2020). A study by Kim et al (2020) reported a Inappropriate healthy work environment in nurses in Southern California (Kim et al, 2020), while studies in other countries show a appropriate healthy work environment (Huddleston et al, 2017;Kelly and Todd, 2017;Monroe et al, 2020). Studies show that, this difference can be due to the type of management, work culture, authority and different independence of nurses in Iran and abroad.…”