Nephrology nursing journal : journal of the American Nephrology Nurses' Association
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While the nephrology nursing shortage persists despite the continued growth of the population of individuals with Stage 5 chronic kidney disease, there is a paucity of empirical data regarding nephrology nurses' perceptions of their work environments. Moreover, there are no studies that have examined the relationship of work environment attributes to patient and nurse outcomes in dialysis settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between staff nurses' perceptions of dialysis work environments, nurses' intentions to leave their current jobs, nurse turnover, patient satisfaction, and patient hospitalization rates. ⋯ Significant correlations were found between nurses' perceptions of the dialysis work environment, nurses' intention to leave their jobs, nurse turnover rates, and patient hospitalizations. Study findings suggest that nurses' perceptions of the dialysis work environment are important for nurse and patient outcomes in dialysis settings. Further research is needed to explore the predictive ability of the work environment for nurse and patient outcomes in hemodialysis units.
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Editorial Comment
Healthy work environment standards: is your unit up to par?
Every RN should be able to work in a safe and healthy environment. Certainly, much of the foundation for such an environment rests with an organization's leadership. ⋯ If you did a mini-assessment on your current work environment using the questions above and found it wanting, you have choices to make. First, do you stay silent or do you move the issue forward and seek change? Second, if you advocate for and try to drive change and it doesn't work, do you stay or do you go? Healthy work environments for nurses will only become the norm if nurses refuse to settle for less.