Professional profile and work conditions of nurses working in intensive care units: A multicentre study

Abstract

Aim To determine the professional profile and the work conditions of nurses working in intensive care units (ICU) in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil. Background ICUs require a differentiated professional profile to provide quality care, and appropriate working conditions, leading to a transformation of care and management practices. Design Descriptive multicentre cross‐sectional observational study. Methods An online survey was applied to identify both the characteristics of the professional profile and the working conditions. 1,427 ICU nursing professionals were included. RStudio statistical software was used for the analysis of the information. Descriptive statistics were used for the presentation of the results. The STROBE checklist for cross‐sectional studies was used in this study. Results Only 33.6% of the professionals had a specialisation degree in intensive care. The skills that were most frequently put into practice were communication (68.5%) and care management (78.5%). The most predominant nurse‐to‐patient ratios were 1:2, and greater than 1:6. 59.1% of the nurses had an indefinite term contract, 38.8% worked 48 hours per week and 49.8% had rotating shifts. Only 50.4% of them received incentives. The average salary ranged between 348 and 1,500 USD. 64.5% of the participants were satisfied with their job. Conclusion It is necessary to strengthen nurses’ professional profile by promoting both postgraduate education and the development of troubleshooting and teamwork skills. It is necessary to standardise the nurse‐to‐patient ratio, improve wages and increase incentives to achieve greater job satisfaction. Relevance to practice The knowledge and the improvement of both the professional profile and the work conditions of nurses working in intensive care units will improve the quality of the care given to critical patients and, therefore, the quality of health outcomes.

How do thermal conditions in intensive care units affect the health and well‐being of intensivists?

“…The professionals had a mean work experience of 7.4 ± 5.9 years, and 46.8% had a weekly workload of more than 45 h. A total of 38.9% of the professionals worked in more than one ICU, and 65.6% worked all three shifts. These values were similar to those found in South America (Achury Saldaña et al, 2021) and Asian (Guan et al, 2019) populations, in which the majority of intensivists were young women with a high weekly workload and short duration of work experience in the ICU. Furthermore, according to Blomgren and Jäppinen (2021), female workers have a higher cumulative annual incidence of musculoskeletal diseases, suggesting inequality in the occurrence of these illnesses.…”

Perfil y competencias críticas del profesional de enfermería en las unidades de cuidado intensivo neonatal

“…Diciembre 2023;43:10-22. calidad y condiciones de trabajo adecuadas, lo que lleva a una transformación de las prácticas de atención y gestión. 3 Recientemente un estudio multicéntrico sobre el perfil profesional y condiciones de trabajo de los enfermeros que actúan en unidades de cuidados intensivos, mostró que sólo el 33,6 % de los profesionales poseía título de especialización en cuidados intensivos. 3 Las habilidades que más se pusieron en práctica fueron la comunicación (68,5 %) y la gestión del cuidado (78,5 %).…”

“…Resultados: Foram incluídos 147 profissionais; 135 (91,8%; IC95% 86,6-95,5) são mulheres, a idade média agrupada até 39 anos corresponde a 48,3% (IC95% 40, 3). Formação: 57,8% são enfermeiros/as, os demais são licenciados/as, 8,2% têm pós-graduação em cuidados críticos.…”

“…medio agrupada hasta los 39 años corresponde al 48,3 % (IC95% 40, 3). Formación: el 57,8 % son enfermeros/as; el resto, licenciados/as; el 8,2 % tienen postgrado en cuidados críticos.…”

The influence of psychosocial work environment, personal perceived health and job crafting on nurses’ well-being: a cross-sectional survey study

“…A positive working environment encompasses reducing absenteeism and improving retention rates. It is essential to understand that motivation plays a significant role in determining the quality of care [ 3 ]. An individual's work well-being is their perception of cognitive, emotional, health, and social conditions related to their profession [ 4 ].…”