Traditionally, nursing has measured job satisfaction by focusing on employees' likes and dislikes. However, job satisfaction is an unsatisfactory construct to assess either the jobs themselves or employees' feelings about work sinceas much as 30% of the variance explained in job satisfaction surveys is a function of personality, something employers can do little to change. Based on socio-technical systems theory, quality of nursing work life (QNWL) assessments focus on identifying opportunities for nurses to improve their work and work environment while achieving the organization's goals. Moreover, some evidence suggests that improvements in work life are needed to improve productivity. Therefore, assessing QNWL reveals areas for improvement where the needs of both the employees and the organization converge. The purpose of this article was to assess the QNWL of staff nurses using Brooks' Quality of Nursing Work Life Survey.
The purpose of this project was to explore how acute care nurses in a midwestern state rate the quality of their work life. A simple random sample of 1500 registered nurses was surveyed. Data were collected using Brooks' Quality of Nursing Worklife Survey (Brooks BA. Development of an Instrument to Measure Quality of Nursing Work Life [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago; 2001). Findings suggested that nursing workload was too heavy, and there was not enough time todo the job well. This study revealed that there remain ongoing and fundamental work life concerns for staff nurses that the profession has neither addressed nor resolved in any meaningful, long-term way.
The Internet, especially the World Wide Web, has a wealth of health-related information easily accessible to patients and families. Commercial health-related Internet sites offer the "3 C's: content, commerce, and connectivity. Many are quickly adding the 4th "C": communication. A growing concern among health care professionals is the quality and the seemingly overabundance of patient education information available on the Internet. Certainly it is possible for nurses to use the Internet for patient education, but new skills and knowledge are needed by nurses who incorporate this technology into their practice. This article will briefly review the evolution of patient education on the Internet, provide a brief review of the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) Patient and Family Education Standards, and offer guidelines for nurses who choose to enhance their patient education efforts by using resources readily available on the Internet.
the initial interest in training and certification in some of the ABPN subspecialties appears to have slowed, and the long-term viability of those subspecialties may well depend on the answers to a number of complicated social, economic, and political questions in the new health care era.
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