| Learning Objective #1: List 7 organizational attributes of home care agencies that nurses identified as essential to practice, quality care, and job satisfaction | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify how home care administrators, worldwide, can apply findings to create work climates that retain nurses and promote quality care |
Objective: This study, funded by the American Nurses Foundation, extended the “magnet” concept into home health care, describing organizational attributes of home care agencies considered by nurses as essential to their practice and job satisfaction. This study built on a preliminary investigation, expanding recruitment to a national sample of U.S. home care nurses. Design: Survey methodology similar to that used in magnet hospital studies was employed, implementing the Tailored Dillman Design Method to conduct a mailed survey of home care nurses representing all geographical regions of the United States. Sample: A response rate of 60% resulted in a sample of 400 home care nurses representing 48 states and all geographic regions of the U.S. Variables: Participants were asked to respond to open-ended questions eliciting their descriptions of agency attributes they considered essential to their practice, quality care, and job satisfaction. Methods: Data were subjected to open and axial coding techniques, and relationships among categories and subcategories were identified. Categories were compared to those reported in magnet hospital studies and to concepts described in sociological theories of professions, underlying magnet hospital research. Findings: A total of 7 categories and 9 subcategories of modifiable agency attributes were described by respondents as “magnet” attributes of home care agencies. Conclusions: The organizational attributes described by home care nurses as essential to practice, quality, and job satisfaction reflected concepts proposed in the sociologic theories of professions. Although many descriptors of magnet home care were similar to those found in magnet hospital studies, some important organizational attributes were specific to home care practice. Implications: Amidst a global emphasis on community-based care, there is a critical shortage of home care nurses. These findings may provide insight to home health administrators, worldwide, in efforts to develop work climates that retain nurses and promote quality care.
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Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003