THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL BARRIERS AND SAFE NURSING CARE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SHAHIDRATHI SHAHINDEJ HOSPITAL NURSES IN 2022: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Since nurses are the most significant part of the professional forces of the health system, who have many duties in order to provide healthcare services, this can endanger the patient's safety. Functional barriers are the sum of issues and factors related to the conditions and facilities of the working environment. They hinder the ability of nurses to perform their duties and reduce the speed of work of nurses to provide care, which can disrupt the safety of nursing care and lead to an increase in Nursing errors. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between functional barriers and safe nursing care from the nurses' perspectives.

The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional-correlation study conducted in Shahidrathi Shahindej Hospital in 2022. The study included 139 nurses who were selected using the census sampling. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire, a performance obstacles questionnaire from a nurse's point of view, and an assessment of safe nursing care (ASNC) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0 via Pearson and t-test statistical tests.

The mean score of safe nursing care was 314.58 ± 25.99, which was at the optimal performance level, and the mean score of performance obstacles was 32.92 ± 5.40. Based on Pearson's correlation test, no significant statistical relationship existed between the total score of safe nursing care and the total score of performance obstacles. However, some dimensions of safe nursing care had a significant statistical relationship with one dimension of performance obstacles (p < 0.05).

Despite the results of this study, it is suggested to think of ways to identify and eliminate the performance obstacles of nurses. Improving work processes, skills, and related training can be effective tools in reducing performance obstacles and improving safe nursing care.