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Saturday, April 13, 2013: 9:20 AM
Learning Objective 1: Define the healthy work environment of the direct care RN.
Learning Objective 2: Discuss study findings/implications that result in management strategies to create a sustainable healthy work environment.
The purpose of the qualitative mixed method study was to understand the perceptions of direct care registered nurses (RNs) regarding their work environment. Patricia Benner (1984) applied the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition (1980) to describe and interpret skill acquisition and clinical judgment in nursing practice. Benner’s operational definitions for the five levels of her Novice to Expert Practice Model were used by the study participants to self-identify their level of practice. Action research (AR) using Cooperrider’s Model of Appreciative Inquiry guided the researcher in understanding the study participants’ perception of The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) (2005) six standards of the healthy work environment (HWE) within their own work setting. An additional aim was to determine if the clinical manager’s perception of their direct reports was the same as the RN. The theoretical drive of the study was inductive and qualitative. The qualitative method focused on understanding the perceptions the direct care RNs had of their work environment through the use of focus groups, including observation and field notes taken by the researcher. The role of the reported quantitative statistics was to enhance the description of the healthy work environment as noted by the study participants. Out of a possible one hundred thirty seven study participants between the two study units, sixty seven direct care RNs participated. The study site was two medical/surgical units in a large Midwestern pediatric hospital. The study findings are being used by the study units’ clinical managers as the basis for implementing the Hersey and Blanchard (1972) Situational Leadership Model. The clinical managers work with their direct reports depending upon the RNs level of practice and the details of the task to be performed.