Nurses’ Work Environment, Staffing, and Quality of Care in Public and Private Hospitals
Keywords:
Nurse work environment, Practice environment, Quality of care, Registered nurse, StaffingAbstract
A satisfactory work environment and staffing are vital elements to a fulfilling professional life of a nurse. Failure to provide a beneficial work environment and staffing issues, such as an imbalanced nurse-to-patient ratio, significantly affect nurses' performance in providing healthcare. This study aims to investigate the extent of the relationship between the variables of work environment, staffing, and quality of care. This study utilized a descriptive correlational design, involving 150 registered nurses from 4 public and private hospitals in the municipality of Iligan, using the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) and the Karen-Personnel Instrument for data collection. Multiple linear regression was used as the statistical tool in this study. Results showed that nurses agreed that they had a good work environment (m=4.18, sd=0.80), staffing (m=3.59, sd=1.31), and quality care (m=3.96, sd=1.05). Also, the work environment (r=0.746, p=0.000) and staffing (r=0.515, p=0.000) positively correlate with quality care. Lastly, the best predictor of quality care is staffing (B=0.299, p=0.021), followed by work environment (B=0.291, p=0.025). The development of the nurses' work environment and staffing holds promise in improving the delivery of quality care. This study enables registered nurses and nursing service administrators to become consciously aware of the importance of a healthy work environment and adequate staffing as factors that improve the quality of care delivery.
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