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Learning Objective 1: Describe the purpose of the Caring Work Environment Survey© and the domains that are measured.
Learning Objective 2: Discuss how the survey results can be used to plan caring initiatives with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.
The BSSF Caring Work Environment Survey© is administered electronically each year to all RNs in this healthcare system. It consists of 12 questions that measure four domains: physical needs, spiritual needs, intellectual stimulation and authentic relationships. Additional questions related to demographics and caring initiatives that the nurse has participated in vary slightly from year to year. Participation is voluntary and confidential. The overall mean caring score is calculated and item analysis is completed to provide comparison of the domains and comparison of responses among different demographics.
Overall, the nurses feel cared for within the work environment. Questions relating to spiritual needs and intellectual stimulation score highest; physical needs score lowest. In 2012, the NRC questioned: Is there a difference in caring scores for nurses who take breaks as compared to those who do not? Two survey questions relating to breaks were added. Nurses who always or usually take breaks had significantly higher mean caring scores than those who take breaks less frequently or never (p<.01). Nurses who take an uninterrupted 30-minute break had significantly higher mean caring scores than those whose break gets interrupted (p<.01).
ANA Code of Ethics states that healthcare workers have a moral obligation to care for themselves so they can care for others effectively. Taking breaks, and the benefits of breaks both for the nurse and for the patient, was promoted in 2013. Analysis of the 2013 survey results demonstrated that nurses who take breaks have higher scores and perceive their environment as more caring; those who don’t take breaks have lower scores and perceive their work environment as less caring. These results indicated that interventions during 2013 were effective and nurses associate taking breaks with a more caring environment. The research team plans to:
- Continue to identify: 1 ) barriers to nurses taking breaks; and 2 ) strategies to allow nurses to take breaks.
- Promote the importance of nurse self-care and care of others on the healthcare team, including breaks, and the subsequent benefits that this will have on patient care and patient outcomes.
- Re-administer the BSSF Caring Work Environment Survey© at annual intervals to evaluate caring initiatives over time that affect the nurses’ perception of feeling cared for within the hospital environment.
The nurses share a vision of caring and the survey allows them to be engaged in a scientific approach to strengthen caring among nurses with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.