Factors Affecting on Nursing Shortage and its Relation to Organizational Commitment at Matai General Central Hospital

Abstract

Background: Nurses are the most important resources of healthcare organizations. The sustained profitability of an organization depends on its workforce, job satisfaction and organizational commitment; as well the employees' job satisfaction enhances their motivation, performance, reduces absenteeism, turnover and nursing shortage. Aim of the study to assess factors affecting on nursing shortage and its relation to organizational commitment at Matai General Central Hospital. Research design: A descriptive correlational research design was used to achieve the aim of the present study. Setting: The study was conducted at Matai General Central Hospital. Subjects: All staff nurses were included in this study with number 141 nurses (19 head nurse and 122 staff nurse). Tools of data collection: Tool (I): Factors affecting Nursing Shortage scale contained two parts Part I: Personal Data. Part II: Factors Affecting Nursing Shortage Scale. Tool (II): Organizational Commitment Scale. Results: The main findings of the study revealed that, (61%) of staff nurses have moderate level regarding total factors effect nursing shortage, followed by (39%) of them have high level of total factors effect nursing shortage, in addition to the total organizational commitment (48.9%) of staff nurses have moderate level, followed by (47.6%) of them have high level of organizational commitment. Conclusion: The study findings concluded that there was a positive correlation between factors affecting on nursing shortage and organizational commitment. Recommendations: Nursing director, Human Resource Personnel and Chief Executive Officer's of the hospital should develop various strategies to increase organizational commitment of nurses Introduction: Nurses are a critical part of healthcare and make up the largest section of the health profession. Also, they are the main stone of care during the most vulnerable times in their lives. They play an important role in impacting the quality and effectiveness of health care delivery which is provided on 24 hours' basis each day of the year. Furthermore, the ability of health care delivery system to respond to rapidly evolving health care will depend on the numbers and qualification given to professional nurses, so the shortage in such category could be serious problem (Haddad et al., 2022). Nursing shortage is a condition in which delicate balance of nurse supply and nurse demand is not at equilibrium. A nursing shortage is not just a matter of understating. Nurses or the public may believe there is a shortage based on a variety of factors. Depending on local factors such as tight budgets or poor working conditions, increased workload, dissatisfied nurses and tendency to leave the services. Experts generally use indicators such as employer reports, vacancy rates, turnover, recruitment difficulty, staffing levels, Registered nurse (RN) supply per population, or forecasting models to determine a nursing shortage(AbdElhamed et al., 2017). The same author added that nursing shortage is considered as a major cause that affects the nurses' productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and competency. Nurses will become more likely to be dissatisfied with their job. Nursing shortage also affects negatively on patient safety and outcome. These lead to increase mortality rates, accident rates, patient injuries, and cross infection rates.