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.

Findings indicate a huge opportunity to both improve clinical outcomes in these units and, at the same time, reduce costs by focusing on processes to reduce the high amount time spent performing NVA and support activities and increase patient care time, particularly patient teaching and psychosocial support.

Objective:The aim of this study was to describe the emotional intelligence (EI) and examine the corresponding demographic characteristics of front-line Nurse Managers in acute care settings.Methods:This quantitative descriptive study was conducted in eight acute care hospitals in the Midwestern United States. The Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was used to measure the EI of 87 front-line Nurse Managers. Demographic characteristics of the participants were captured on a second tool, the Nurse Manager Demographic Characteristics questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis.Results:Significant correlations were found between the perceiving and using branches of the model and total EI score and nurses certified in a specialty. No significant correlations were found between EI and graduate education, age, years in management, percentage of time in management or number of direct reports. Considerations for future research are discussed.Conclusions:Opportunity exists to develop EI in front-line Nurse Managers.

The dual crises of high healthcare costs and the nursing shortage require a better understanding of inpatient nursing unit activities and, more specifically, their costs and the drivers of inefficiencies. This includes knowing not only how staff spend their time but also how much of this time is non-value-added (NVA) because wasted time leads to both high costs and nurse dissatisfaction. The authors discuss a study that determined the NVA time and costs of acute care nursing unit staff, identified drivers of high-cost NVA time, and compared activities and costs by type of nursing unit. These data have considerable implications for developing efficient and effective nursing care delivery models and for implementing process improvement and staff satisfaction initiatives.