Relationship between Work Ability Index and Cognitive Failure among Nurses

Workplace violence, work-related exhaustion, and workplace cognitive failure among nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To examine the relationships between nurses' exposure to workplace violence and self-reports of workplace cognitive failure.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

METHODS

An online questionnaire was administered in April 2023 to nurses in Michigan, US. Structural equation modelling was used to examine effects of physical and non-physical workplace violence (occupational stressors) and work efficiency and competence development (occupational protective factors) on workplace cognitive failure.

RESULTS

Physical violence was a significant predictor of the action subscale of cognitive failure. There were no direct effects of non-physical violence, workplace efficiency, or competence development on any of the workplace cognitive failure dimensions. Both types of violence and efficiency had significant indirect effects on workplace cognitive failure via work-related exhaustion. Work-related exhaustion predicted significantly higher scores for workplace cognitive failure.

CONCLUSION

Workplace violence and work efficiency exhibited primarily indirect effects on workplace cognitive failure among nurses via work-related exhaustion.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE

Nurses experiencing workplace violence may be at increased risk for workplace cognitive failure, especially if they are also experiencing work-related exhaustion. Workplaces that nurses perceive as more efficient can help to mitigate the effects of violence on nurses' cognitive failure.

IMPACT

This study addressed the possible effects of workplace violence as well as work efficiency and competence development on nurses' cognitive failure at work. Analyses revealed primarily indirect effects of workplace violence, and indirect protective effects of work efficiency, on nurses' cognitive failure via work-related exhaustion. This research has implications for healthcare organizations and suggests that efforts made by healthcare workplaces to prevent violence and work-related exhaustion, and to enhance work efficiency, may help to mitigate workplace cognitive failure among nurses.

REPORTING METHOD

We have followed the STROBE checklist in reporting this study.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No Patient or public contribution.

Perceived work-ability and its associated factors among nurses working in the Northwest of Amhara regional state Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022

BACKGROUND

Nurses with reduced work ability had a high risk of disability pension, sickness absences, retirement intention, and leave their job and profession early. Nurses frequently suffer from job related stress, occupational fatigue and sleep problems, which can further compromise their work ability.

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study was to assess perceived work ability and its associated factors among nurses working in the Northwest of Amhara regional state Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.

METHODS

A multicenter, an institutional based, cross-sectional study was conducted among 410 nurses working in five selected Referral hospitals, found in the Northwest of Amhara regional state, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022. The data were collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire and entered using Epi info version 7.2.5 software, analyzed using SPSS version 25. Summary statistics (median or IQR for continuous data and frequency and percentage for categorical variables) were used. The ordinal logistic regression was used to assess' the presence of association between dependent and independent variables.

RESULTS

The findings of this study revealed that 59.0% of nurses had poor level of work ability, whereas 34.4% and 6.6% of nurses had sub-optimal and optimal level of work ability respectively. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression revealed that being male [AOR = 2.43; 95% CI (1.52, 3.91)], being BSC nurse [AOR = 0.21; 95% CI (0.08, 0.51)], nurses who had poor sleep quality [AOR = 0.34; 95% CI (0.12, 0.98)] and nurses who had chronic disease [AOR = 0.18; 95% CI (0.08, 0.41)] were significantly associated with nurses' level of work ability, p-value < 0.05.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the prevalence of poor level of work ability among nurses was high. Nurses with a female sex, nurses who had chronic disease, BSC holders and nurses who had poor sleep quality had a poor level of work ability. The federal Minister of health and the study hospitals collaborative with concerned stakeholders to design strategies to enhance work ability among nurses.

What are nurses' roles in modern healthcare? A qualitative interview study using interpretive description

AIM

Nursing work has historically been difficult to specify. This has led to difficulties in determining safe staffing requirements and adequately supporting safe patient care. The aim of this qualitative interview study was to explore how nurses understand their work.

DESIGN

Qualitative interview study, using the interpretive description methodology.

METHODS

Twenty registered nurses and nursing students completed semi-structured interviews about their work. The researcher drew on the interpretive description methodology to analyse interview data and create a model that interprets participants' experiences of their nursing work.

RESULTS

Nurses understand their work by its role in the healthcare system, rather than by the tasks or activities they complete. This understanding is significant because nurses adapt their work constantly, and rigid definitions of working would not support safe adaptation. Nurses report working across three broad roles: clinical work, which is patient-facing; managing work, which sustains the care environment; and enabling work, which provides supports like research and education that make nursing a profession.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical, managing and enabling work have different aims, but all serve the purpose of supporting safe patient care and sustaining healthcare systems. Adaptation is a constant feature of each of these roles. This model may be useful for nurses in structuring and explaining their work and informing nursing workforce policy.

Perceived work ability and work-family conflict in healthcare workers: An observational study in a teaching hospital in Italy

Objective

The aim of the study was to investigate the variables associated with work ability, work‐family conflict and the relationship between these variables.

Methods

An observational prospective study was conducted and involved 436 employees of a Teaching Hospital in Rome. Data collection was performed using the following tools: the Work Ability Index (WAI) and the Work‐to‐family conflict and Family‐to‐work conflict Scale (WFC—FWC Scale). Data were analyzed through univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate linear regression, using the SPSS software version 25.

Results

A direct relationship of the WFC score with two variables (female gender and physicians) and an inverse relationship with other two variables (age and administrative staff) were found. There is a direct relationship between the FWC score and the variable “having sons”. The WFC and FWC scores showed a direct relationship between them.

The Work Ability presented an almost significant association only with the profession variable, in which administrative staff, followed by physicians, presented a higher WAI score with respect to other professional categories, such as nurses.

Conclusions

Wellbeing intervention for health workers should be directed mainly to women, older workers and those with sons. In addition, more attention should be given to nurses, who showed lower work ability scores.

The Associations of Electronic Health Record Usability and User Age With Stress and Cognitive Failures Among Finnish Registered Nurses: Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Electronic health records (EHRs) are expected to provide many clinical and organizational benefits. Simultaneously, the end users may face unintended consequences, such as stress and increased cognitive workload, due to poor EHR usability. However, whether the effects of usability depend on end user characteristics, such as career stage or age, remains poorly understood.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to examine the associations of EHR usability and user age with stress related to information systems and cognitive failures among registered nurses.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey design was employed in Finland in 2017. A total of 3383 registered nurses responded to the nationwide electronic survey. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the associations of EHR usability (eg, how easily information can be found and a patient's care can be documented) and user age with stress related to information systems and cognitive failures. Interaction effects of EHR usability and age were also tested. Models were adjusted for gender and employment sector.

RESULTS

Poor EHR usability was associated with higher levels of stress related to information systems (β=.38; P<.001). The strength of the association did not depend on user age. Poor EHR usability was also associated with higher levels of cognitive failures (β=.28; P<.001). There was a significant interaction effect between age and EHR usability for cognitive failures (β=.04; P<.001). Young nurses who found the EHR difficult to use reported the most cognitive failures.

CONCLUSIONS

Information system stress due to poor EHR usability afflicts younger and older nurses alike. However, younger nurses starting their careers may be more cognitively burdened if they find EHR systems difficult to use compared to older nurses. Adequate support in using the EHRs may be particularly important to young registered nurses, who have a lot to learn and adopt in their early years of practice.

Factors affecting work ability index among polish nurses working in hospitals - A prospective observational survey

AIMS

To assess the ability to work of Polish nurses by age groups.

BACKGROUND

The ability to work is widely discussed in the literature in the context of nurses' productivity; thus, it is necessary to identify the ability to work when facing an increasing demand for services.

METHODS

The observational study involved 349 professionally active nurses aged 46.9 ± 9.7 years, with a length of service of 23.5 ± 9.6 years. The Work Ability Index (WAI) was used to assess the nurses' ability to work.

RESULTS

The ability to work decreases with age (r_s  = -0.324, p < .000) and with seniority (r_s  = -0.257; p < .000). Nurses with higher education presented higher Work Ability Index scores. Also, the age (B = -0.25, p < .001), work seniority (B = -0.19, p < .001) and education (masters' degree: B = 1.41, p = .012; ref. secondary) affect work ability.

CONCLUSIONS

The ageing process and seniority of nurses negatively affect their ability to work. A lack of programmes to maintain physical condition for nurses can result in a shortage of staff.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Programmes can be developed to create or improve healthy working environments to increase productivity.

Barriers to effective nurse-patient communication in the emergency department

BACKGROUND

It has been identified that ineffective nurse-patient communication in the emergency department can lead to frustration, mistrust and inadequate pain management. Therefore, it is important to recognise the potential barriers to effective communication, including nurse and patient-related factors.

AIM

To identify what emergency nurses perceive as barriers to nurse-patient communication, and if there is any difference in the perception of communication barriers between nurses' demographic subgroups.

METHOD

A total of 199 emergency nurses were recruited using convenience sampling, from nine hospitals in the West Bank, Palestine. These nurses completed a 27-item questionnaire that encompassed six domains of barriers that may affect nurse-patient communication: demographic, knowledge-related, environmental, social, economic and psychological factors.

RESULTS

Of the six domains covered by the questionnaire, environmental factors scored the highest, meaning that emergency nurses perceived these to be the most significant barriers to effective nurse-patient communication. This was followed by knowledge-related and psychological factors. Knowledge-related factors were perceived to be a greater communication barrier by male nurses more than female nurses, and by younger nurses more than older nurses.

CONCLUSION

To enhance nurse-patient communication, it is important to establish a comfortable working environment and to provide ongoing training for nurses to develop their communication skills.

The Performance of Emergency Department Nurses Across Sectors in Jordan: An Application of the Work Functioning Model

Work functioning is a relatively new conceptual model developed to embrace various aspects surrounding work performance, work participation, and individual capacity. The assessment of work performance (AWP) in nursing has gained inconsistent evidence due to examining it from multidimensional aspects. This study aimed to perform the AWP in nurses working in the emergency departments (EDs) at different healthcare sectors in Jordan. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used in which ED nurses completed a questionnaire. ED nurses were recruited conveniently from four referral hospitals located in Amman (two government and two private hospitals). The Nursing Work Functioning Questionnaire (NWFQ), in addition to the demographic questionnaire were completed. A total of 179 ED nurses participated in the study (100 government and 79 private nurses). A few differences were found between government and private sector nurses in respect to work functioning domains. Overall, nurses from both sectors reported minimal impairments in their performance represented in seven domains. However, ED nurses from the private sector claimed more frequent work incidences compared to ED nurses from the government sector (p = .043). In addition, associate nurses showed higher avoidance behavior than registered nurses in both sectors (p = .031). Contrary to former studies, this study found minimal discrepancies in work performance between government and private sectors, and employing the work functioning model is useful to gain a thorough understanding of the AWP.

Global nursing in an Ebola viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak: before, during and after deployment

BACKGROUND

Nurses are on the forefront and play a key role in global disaster responses. Nevertheless, they are often not prepared for the challenges they are facing and research is scarce regarding the nursing skills required for first responders during a disaster situation.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate how returnee nursing staff experienced deployment before, during and after having worked for the Red Cross at an Ebola Treatment Center in Kenema, West Africa, and to supply knowledge on how to better prepare and support staff for viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks.

METHODS

A descriptive, cross-sectional approach. Questionnaires were administered to nurses having worked with patients suffering from Ebola in 2014 and 2015. Data collection covered aspects of pre-, during and post-deployment on clinical training, personal health, stress management, leadership styles, socio-cultural exposure and knowledge transfer, as well as attitudes from others. Data was analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

RESULTS

Response-rate was 88%: forty-four nurses from 15 different countries outside West Africa answered the questionnaire. The respondents identified the following needs for improvement: increased mental health and psychosocial support and hands-on coping strategies with focus on pre- and post-deployment; more pre-deployment task-oriented clinical training; and workload reduction, as exhaustion is a risk for safety.

CONCLUSIONS

This study supplies knowledge on how to better prepare health care staff for future viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks and other disasters. Participants were satisfied with their pre-deployment physical health preparation, whereas they stressed the importance of mental health support combined with psychosocial support after deployment. Furthermore, additional pre-clinical training was requested.

Investigation of the Relationship between Work Ability and Work-related Quality of Life in Nurses

BACKGROUND

Work ability of nurses is an index of their job satisfaction and is a crucial factor in job quality and security. This study aimed to investigate the association between work ability and quality of working life and to determine the effective demographic and background variables, among nurses.

METHODS

The present study was conducted among nurses, working in educational hospitals under the supervision of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Work Ability Index (WAI) and Work-related Quality of Life (WRQoL) were used.

RESULTS

The mean WAI was significantly associated with total WRQoL score and the two of its sub-items including Stress at Work, and General Well-Being (P-value=0.001). Moreover, the results showed a significant correlation between total WRQoL and WAI Subscales including mental resources (P-value=0.001), number of current diseases (P-value=0.02), and work ability in relation to the job demands (P-value=0.04). The WRQoL and WAI showed significant associations with age and job experience (P-value=0.001). The average score of WAI and WRQoL was statistically different among various working units (P-value=0.001).

CONCLUSION

Overall, results support the association between nurses work ability and WRQoL. Monitoring the WRQoL and work ability of employees would help organizations to know their status and take measures to ameliorate the working conditions.