Working conditions of nursing personnel and their effects in patients and personnel

The factors that determine the work conditions are the qualitative situation of buildings, the equipment, the material and technical infrastructure of working places. Purpose: The purpose of the present study was the investigation of Nursing Personnel’s working conditions regarding staffing, facilities, material and technical infrastructure as well as the investigation of the way that working conditions influence Nursing Personnel. Subject and method: The study population was nurses and nurse assistants). Data were collected with a specially designed, by the research team, questionnaire. Results: 56.4% of the sample (n=193) characterized the qualitative status of the buildings from very bad to bad. 78.7% (n=269) considered that their working place did not allocate the means and materials, 92.1 % (n=315) stated that they are not enough employed in order to cover the patients’ nursing needs. They also had the perception that they were forced to work without the essential staff, resources and equipment (92.7%, n=317). Nursing Personnel under the present conditions was compelled to make choices opposite to its professional judgment (60.2%, n=206) and to daily exceed all human bearing (94.4%, n=323). It was also unable to correspond to social (85.4%, n=292) and family (88.9%, n=304) obligations due to working conditions. Finally, problems at work often preoccupied them at their home (73.1%, n=250). Conclusions: The results showed the very difficult working conditions of nursing personnel in Greece, due to bad quality of buildings, insufficient equipment and understaffing.

Keywords: working conditions, building structure, ratio nurse/patient, quality