The Better Nurse Work Environment and Positive Safety Climate: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Nursing staff in the multidisciplinary team has an important role to be the great articulator of any assistance that is provided to patients. Usually they are not recognized by their duties nor the environment offers favorable conditions for their practice. Thus, the work environment and other variables such as the level of burnout, the perception of quality of care and the perception of patient safety culture can compromise the performance of these professionals

Purpose: To investigate registered nurses and nursing techinicians' perceptions of the work environment and their relation to patient safety climate, perception of quality of care and burnout level in intensive care units.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted, using the measures: Nursirng Work Index-Revised (NWI-R), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). The sample was composed of 114 nursing professionals from three intensive care units in a teaching hospital in Brazil. For analysis of correlation was used the Spearman Coefficient followed by the Bonferroni correction with p-value < 0.0004.

Results: The sample was comprised of 114 nursing professionals, including nurses and nursing technicians. The majority (79.82%) were female, mean age of 35.4 years. The average length of experience in the institution was 7.7 years and in the unit was 5.2 years. Most of them had a single type of employment (81.42%), was satisfied with their work (71.93%) and perceived a good quality of care to the patient (77.19%). The nursing professional had a moderate level of emotional exhaustion, a positive perception with job satisfaction and a better perception of the work environment. It was found a significant correlation among the variables in which the nursing professional who perceived more autonomy, better nursing physician relationships, more control over the work environment and organizational support, had a lower level of emotional exhaustion and evaluated a good quality of care and positive perception of the safety climate.

Conclusion: The findings of this study can provide insight into areas for improvement and help monitor change over time.