Assesment of psychosocial work conditions of nurses at selected hospital wards

Abstract

Background: Good organisation of work, clear division of responsibilities, support from superiors are factors that positively influence the satisfaction of the profession. The purpose of the work was the assessment of psychosocial working conditions of nurses. Material and Methods: The research included 388 nurses working at surgical wards, medical treatment wards, and psychiatric wards. The research method was a diagnostic survey carried out by means of a questionnaire called Psychosocial Work Conditions. The obtained results were statistically analysed. Results: Nearly a half of the nurses considers the requirements at work as moderate, and 36.66% as high. Nurses from medical treatment wards indicate the highest level of requirements. Nurses working at psychiatric wards and in a shift system significantly more often feel the requirements relating to overload and resulting from a conflict of roles. Nurses working in the profession for more than 10 years considerably more often describe the level of behavioural control as high in comparison to those working for a shorter time. Regardless of the character of a ward, nurses most often (44.33%) assess the support from co-workers as average, and 1/5 considered this as low. Conclusions: The results indicate the correctness of introducing psychosocial training for professionally active nurses. © Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź.