Health Care : Current Reviews

Abstract

Perceived Work Environment and Associated Factors among Nurses Working in Jimma University Medical Center, Oromia Regional State South- West Ethiopia

Gizaw AB, Gemeda TL and Yunka TT

Background: Globally, the environments in which nurses work influence the quality of nursing practice and health care. In recent decades, the nursing work environment has become a central foundation to provide quality, safe, ethical nursing care. Nurses' Work environment can be described as the system that supports nurses’ control over the delivery of nursing care, the environment in which care is delivered and the characteristics of an organization that facilitate or constrain professional nursing practice. A supportive and enabling work environment promotes professional development and the safety and quality of health care. Addressing these factors is important in optimizing work place environments.
Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess perceived work environment and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma town, south west Ethiopia.
Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was done from March 15 to 27, 2018. Data was collected by using a modified nurse work index questionnaire. 250 participants were included in the study by simple random sampling technique. Data was entered into Epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics and linear regression were done to describe and identify factors associated with perceived level of work environment. P-value of <0.05 at 95% CI was used to declare statistical significance.
Results: More than half (54%) of the respondents had low perception to their work environment. Control over the practice setting, autonomy and nurse physician relationship had significant association with perception towards nurse work environment.
Conclusion: Overall level of nurses’ perception towards work environment was low. Autonomy, control over the practice setting and nurse-physician relationship were identified as factors significantly affect the level of nurses perception towards their working environment.