The productivity and quality of work life in emergency nurses

The emergency department is the heart of the hospital and the entry point for patients to provide health services and emergency nurses are one of the largest working groups in the hospital and the most influential force in determining the quality of services provided. The main mission of this department is to save the lives of patients. Therefore, emergency department nurses have a heavy responsibility and it is necessary to have the necessary professional motivation and commitment along with sufficient knowledge and skills. Therefore, information about the productivity and quality of work life of its employees can be a basis for taking appropriate measures and prepare the ground for achieving the desired conditions. this study was conducted to determine the productivity and quality of work life of emergency department nurses.

This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study and From September to November 2016, it was performed on 189 nurses working in the emergency department of educational and medical centers affiliated to Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, who were selected by stratified allocation method. Data were collected  as self-report using  a demographic questionnaire and  Manpower Productivity Questionnaire and Work Quality of Life Questionnaire (QNW). ANOVA and t-test in SPSS software version 18 were used to analyze the data. 

The average productivity of nurses working in the emergency department was 92.55 with a standard deviation of 11.68. The average score of total quality of working life was 143.67 with a standard deviation of 26.98. The quality of working life had the highest average score in the field of work with an average of 3.58 and the lowest average score in the personal life dimension with an average of 3.04 The results showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between any of the demographic characteristics and nurseschr('39') work productivity. Among the studied job characteristics, there was a statistically significant relationship with the employment productivity of emergency nurses (p <0.05). There was a statistically significant relationship between nurseschr('39') quality of work life with marital status (p <0.01) and education (p <0.05). Overtime (p <0.05) and choice of working hours (p <0.01) had a statistically significant relationship with the quality of working life of emergency nurses.

The findings of the present study showed that productivity and quality of work life in emergency nurses was at a moderate and relatively desirable level, respectively. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to achieve the desired productivity and quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to make comprehensive plans to improve the productivity and quality of work life of nurses. This planning can be done at the macro level by senior managers of the health system and at the micro level by the management of the hospital complex.