Working Conditions and Productivity among Nurses in Selected Hospitals in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Occupational stress and burnout are both one of the factors that bedevil the healthcare sector in developing countries, particularly in Nigeria. The study explored the perceived impact of working condition on the productivity of nursing staffs in selected hospitals in south-west Nigeria.Methodology: Descriptive survey design, comprising of 200 respondents selected randomly. Data were collected using questionnaires and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data generated. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test-re-test at the interval of two weeks.Results: Majority 106 (53%) of the respondents reported that work stress caused increased rate of absenteeism among nurses, high staff turnout and deterioration in quality of service provided to patients. Majority (87.0%) of the respondents were females, while (13.0%) were males. Respondents were aged between 26 and 35 years and were married. About 79% of respondents agreed that their workplace had a warm, friendly and a pleasant atmosphere. However, 47.5% of respondents said that the work overload was too high and they were unable to cope with its demands.Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Stress arising from poor working conditions can have adverse impact on the organization with the most common detrimental effects being increased absenteeism, deterioration in the morale of nurses, lack of job satisfaction and performance. To improve the organization's effectiveness, employer must implement strategies that are beneficial to both employees and health organization because hospital workers face variety of highly stressful working conditions while meeting the physical and psychological needs of patients.

Working conditions in a mental health institution: An exploratory study of professional nurses in Limpopo province, South Africa

“…They further explained that they have lost passion for their profession because of work-related stress. A study conducted in Nigeria by Hanson, Onasoga and Babalola ( 2017 :28) confirmed that the workplace environment plays an integral part in the causation of stress because people spend most of their time in the work setting. It was indicated that professional nurses caring for MHCUs are prone to substance abuse because of the scope of their duty.…”

“…It was indicated that professional nurses caring for MHCUs are prone to substance abuse because of the scope of their duty. It is also stated that some of the professional nurses suffer from headaches, sleep disturbances, chest pains and other related symptoms of stress (Hanson et al 2017 :34). A study conducted in the United States by Edward, Hercelinsky and Giandinoto ( 2017 :215) emphasised that there is a robust relationship between high levels of emotional exhaustion amongst professional nurses working in mental health institutions and high workload being experienced in the workplace.…”

Stress Management in Healthcare Organizations: The Nigerian Context

“…More so, stress management is an intervention meant to lessen the effect of stressors at work [51]. However, these interventions may be personalized with the goal of enhancing a person's capacity to handle pressure [52]. Moreover, the main goal of stress management is to protect people's mental and physical health, quality of life, and daily productivity [33].…”

Estresse ocupacional em equipes saúde da família certificadas e não certificadas com selo de qualidade assistencial

“…High levels of occupational stress predispose workers to illness and increase presenteeism, absenteeism, turnover, job dissatisfaction, adverse events and, consequently, impact on the care provided to the population. 13 For the reasons explained and the incipience of published studies that compare occupational stress in certified and noncertified primary care organizations, it is important to develop research that performs this analysis. 9,14 Such results may support actions to improve the working conditions and the quality of care provided to the community.…”