The impact of an additional nurse assistant during evening shifts on nurses’ perceptions of job demands, job resources and well‐being

• Published in: Journal of advanced nursing Vol. 77; no. 2; pp. 1013 - 1016
• Main Authors: Scheepers, Renée A., Smeulders, Ilse‐Marita, van den Broek, Thijs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Assistants; Autonomy; Cost analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; healthcare assistants; Humans; Job characteristics; job demands; job resources; Job Satisfaction; Nurses; Nursing Staff, Hospital; Original Research: Pilot Study; Perception; Perceptions; Pilot Projects; Recovery; Recovery (Medical); Research Papers; Sleep; Sleep disorders; sleep problems; Staffing; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teams; well‐being; Workforce planning; Workload; Workloads; well‐being; healthcare assistants; workloads; sleep problems; recovery; job resources; job demands; nurses; staffing
• ISSN: 0309-2402; 1365-2648
• DOI: 10.1111/jan.14698

Aim Workloads and other job demands jeopardize nurses’ well‐being, especially during evening shifts when there are less resources than during the day. The current study aims to shed light on how the addition of a nurse assistant to ward staffing during evening shifts has an impact on nurses’ perceptions of job demands, job resources, and well‐being. Design We performed a pre‐post pilot study, whereby we compared nurses’ perceptions of job demands, job resources, and well‐being before and after the addition of a nurse assistant to ward staffing during evening shifts. Methods All nurses at the ward of a top‐clinical hospital (N = 28) completed a baseline and follow‐up survey including validated measures on job demands (workload and physical demands), job resources (autonomy and task clarity), and well‐being (recovery from work and sleep problems). Results Compared with baseline, nurses reported fewer job demands (lower workloads and fewer physical demands) and sleep problems at follow‐up. No statistically significant changes in job resources (autonomy and task clarity) and recovery difficulties were found. Conclusions We found preliminary evidence that the addition of a nurse assistant during evening shifts could reduce workloads, physical demands, and sleep problems among nurses. Impact This study highlighted that heavy job demands and sleep problems associated with evening shifts may be addressed by adding a nurse assistant to the nursing team. Future studies with larger samples and a control group are needed to provide better estimates of the magnitude of the beneficial effects and of the cost‐effectiveness of an intervention of this kind. 摘要 目的 超负荷的工作量及其他工作需求会危及护士的健康,人员资源比白天少的夜班尤其如此。本研究旨在阐明在晚班期间增加护士助理将在护士对感知工作需求、工作资源和幸福感方面产生影响。 设计 我们进行了一项前‐后试点研究,比较了在夜班病房增加护士助理前后,护士对工作需求、工作资源和幸福感的看法。 方法 顶级临床医院病房的所有护士(N=28)都完成了一项基线调查和一项随访调查,其中包括对工作需求(工作量和身体需求)、工作资源(自主性和任务清晰度)和幸福感(从工作和睡眠问题中恢复)的有效测量。 结果 与基线相比,护士在随访中上报的工作需求更少(更少的工作量和更少的身体需求),睡眠问题更轻。而在工作资源(自主性和任务清晰度)和工作状态恢复方面的困难上没有发现数据方面的显著变化。 结论 已发现的初步证据表明,在夜班期间增加一名护士助理可以减少护士的工作量、身体需求并减轻其睡眠问题。 影响 此项研究着重强调,夜班将带来加重护士工作需求和睡眠问题的严重程度,而此类问题可通过在护理团队中增加一名护士助理进行解决。现需针对更多样本进行更多研究,并生成对照组,以便对此种干预措施的有益效果和成本效益更好地进行预估。