Rough Draft Qualitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations
Job satisfaction and burnout experienced in the nursing workforce are becoming global concerns since they have a significant impact on quality and patient safety. Also, poor job satisfaction is associated with the intention to leave the job and quit the profession. Shift patterns have been pinpointed as factors that determine the well-being of nurses and the level of job satisfaction for nurses working in various shifts. An article on “Association of 12 h shifts and nurses’ job satisfaction, burnout and intention to leave: findings from a cross-sectional study of 12 European countries” included research on the association between nurse shift and job satisfaction. Due to the increase in 12h shifts for most hospitals, concerns have been raised regarding the nurses’ well-being, job satisfaction and intent to leave the job. Most of the previous studies reported the rate at which nurses are dissatisfied, their intention to leave and the high rate of burnout but did not give the association between the high rate of burnout and the working shifts. The research wanted to examine the relationship between job satisfaction, long shifts of working for nurses and the level of burnout as experienced by nurses working for the long shifts.
The research employed a cross-sectional survey which involved 31627 registered nurses from 488 hospitals that were distributed in European countries. Data collection was from 12 European countries which aimed to increase the credibility of the results. The countries that were involved in the study were England, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, and Sweden among other European countries. Thirty hospitals in each of the country were included in the study with a minimum of two medical/ surgical nursing units included. The used survey had a total of 118 questions which were organized in five sections. The questions wanted to establish information about the nurses, their job, about their recent shift, burnout and job satisfaction. The survey did not intend to find out the positions the nurses hold in their current hospitals.
The findings of the study proved that nurses who worked for 12 or more hours in a single shift experienced burnout which was regarding emotional exhaustion, low personal accomplishments and depersonalization. Also, those who worked more than 12 hours reported having increased job dissatisfaction especially due to work schedule flexibility. Besides, they reported having the intention to quit the job and leave the profession due to increased workload within the stated shifts. This is an indication that the changing nursing work schedule has adverse effects not only on the health of the nurses but also the quality and safety of care given to patients. This is because the nurses have a high level of dissatisfaction and burnout that lead to reduced productivity while in the workplace.
The findings of the study revealed that long working hours for hospital nurses affect their productivity due to high rates of burnout. High level of exhaustion is risky not only to nurses but to the patients since nurses are tired by the time they are treating patients. The study is among the first to find out the association between working hours and the treatment outcome by nurses in European countries. Twelve working hours shifts are common in some countries, and the research has associated the working hours with job satisfaction and burnout which both affect the quality and safety of care given to patients.
Uses of the Findings
The findings of the research are credible thus can be used as research literature in future studies. Since it is among the first study to find out the association between long working hours and nurses burnout and dissatisfaction, further studies may intend to criticize the findings or support the findings, and the research can be used as research literature. Also, the findings leave most hospital managers with questions since job satisfaction is a major concern in most healthcare organizations. Besides long working hours, managers may be interested to find out other factors that lead to decreased dissatisfaction among nurses, and this will trigger strategies to solve the prevalent nursing practice problem.
The findings of the article can be relevant in informing a policy that can be used in a hospital to regulate the working hours in each nursing shift. The research served to introduce a new fact where nurses working hours are associated with decreased job satisfaction and high level of burnout which affect the quality of care given by the nurses and contribute to their intention to leave the job. Nurses have close contact with patients and the increased demand for quality, and safe care can necessitate policy implementation which will govern shift length for nurses in all hospitals. Also, the policy will protect nurses from adverse effects associated with long working hours. Therefore, the findings of this research can be used to formulate a policy that will protect nurses from long working hours.
The findings can also be used to identify the root cause of the problems prevalent in nursing care. The high rates of nurse burnout can be associated with long working hours that lead to a high rate of burnout and decreased job satisfaction. The results of the study gave a clear relationship between nursing working hours and the level of job satisfaction and burnout. Thus it can be assumed that the reason why nurses have decreased satisfaction and revealed their intent to leave the profession is due to the change in a nursing shift which has been increased from 8 to 12 hours. All the problems related to the quality of care given by nurses with 12-hour shifts can be related to a high level of burnout and decreased job satisfaction.
The findings of this study can be used in the development of strategies relevant to organizational change. Although some nurses had positive responses towards the 12hour shifts, most of them complain due to lack of adequate sleeping hours that translate to emotional and physical exhaustion. The nursing outcome is affected by the length of working hours; therefore, strategies to monitor the length of nursing shifts should be implemented to protect nurses health and the safety and quality of care offered by nurses in hospitals.
Ethical Consideration
The study maintained ethical consideration since it was approved by central ethical committees and local communities. The study was conducted in hospitals that are in European counties and permission was sought from the hospital administrators and the entire nation. The various European nations were forced to approve the study so that the researchers could cover several hospitals. The use of many hospitals was to increase the credibility of the results were the responses of nurses from the various hospitals were compared to obtain conclusive findings. Hospitals involved in the study were selected voluntarily, and nurses participation was also voluntary thus the study maintained a high ethical standard. Approval from hospitals was sought before the study was conducted to increase compliance of nurses and to avoid any form of liability.