Author: Caridad RemyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nursing
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
Background: Public health nurses (PHN) work long hours, carry high caseloads, manage with fewer resources, and must deal with increasing technology while ensuring the provision of quality care. Since the time of Lillian Wald, public health nursing has undergone a major transformation in the types of services provided in the community due to the complexity and acuity of the current patient population. PHNs play a significant role in helping patients to effectively manage their illness in order to prevent unplanned hospitalizations. Illness, absenteeism, turnover, and poor job satisfaction are end products of stress. The purpose of this DNP project was to examine the impact of care coordination and caseload on job satisfaction and stress on the PHNs who are providing care to patients in the community. Methods: Descriptive study using mixed methods of data collection and analysis. A purposive sample of nurses who have had experience working in home care and who have provided skilled nursing care for a minimum of one year completed self-reported surveys. Perceived stress was measured with the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale. Job satisfaction was assessed using the Measurement of Job Satisfaction Tool. Analysis of the data collected from the surveys included descriptive and inferential statistics. Correlation coefficients, two-sample t-tests and content analysis were used to summarize the data and compare group differences between nurses with different caseloads. Results: However, due to a small sample size, the correlation and t test results showed inconsistency with content analysis. Content analysis provided more insight and represented more accurately the characteristics of a small sample size. Conclusion/ Clinical relevance: There exists a gap in the research regarding the impact of these factors on PHN and additional research is needed to explore the relationships between work conditions and PHN stress and impact on patient care. The results of this study support the idea that high caseloads impact job satisfaction and stress levels of nurses working in public health. Implementing changes to improve work conditions would provide PHNs with the time needed to focus on quality patient care which would ultimately lead to improved patient outcomes. In addition, the data collected from this project could influence change as it relates to the current model of care delivery in public health.
