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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Lee Ann Hoff, PhD RN¹, Ainat Koren, PhD RN², Barbara Mawn, PhD RN², Karen Devereaux Melillo, PhD APRN BC², Carole Pearce, PhD RN², Kathleen Sperrazza, RN¹, and The PHASE in Healthcare Research Team³. (1) PHASE in Health Care Research Team, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 78 Stratford St., West Roxbury, MA 02132, 617 323-6887, leeann.hoff@comcast.net, (2) Nursing Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 3 Solomont Way, Suite 2, Lowell, MA 01854, (3) Center for Public Health Research and Health Promotion, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 3 Solomont Way, Lowell, MA 01854

The “culture of nursing” encompasses values, beliefs, and behavioral norms influencing nurses' practice, health team interaction, self-care, and vulnerability to abuse. In the PHASE project (Promoting Health and Safe Employment in Health Care), a 5-year NIOSH-sponsored study, we employed multi-methods to examine health and safety factors for workers in the healthcare environment. We used quantitative and qualitative data from two hospitals, two nursing homes, and a nurses' union. Qualitative data sources included focus group discussions, hospital open forums, key informant interviews, agency observations, media sources and agency documents. The qualitative data analysis suggested that within the health care environment, there was a nursing culture, which influenced various factors affecting nurses' health and safety. Managers and workers expressed the common view that injuries are an expected part of the job for nurses. This was associated with inconsistent reporting of injuries among workers and a discrepancy in the perception for the need for ongoing, mandatory health and safety prevention programs. The impact of health care restructuring was noted to be associated with changes in patient acuity, changes in staffing patterns and for some, less satisfaction in the nursing role. Implications for nursing and health care include education regarding health care risks, the importance of reporting injuries, and development of socially just policies that mandate ongoing health and safety training and injury prevention.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the context of PHASE research project that revealed “culture of nursing” data as a factor in explaining workplace injury, prevention efforts, and health outcomes for injured nurses.
• Describe the historical, sociocultural, and economic milieu in which “culture of nursing” factors emerged and can be understood in today’s work environment.
• Identify how the complexities of healthcare restructuring and attendant commodification of nursing care intersect with “culture of nursing” as a contextual influence on individual nurses’ health and safety in the workplace.
• Recognize the implications of these research findings for the education and practice of future professional nurses, and for socially just policies that can enhance nurses’ health and safety.

Keywords: Occupational Health, Nurses

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation