RN Work Project

Quality improvement (QI) is a focus of hospital managers and policymakers. The role of registered nurses (RNs) in QI in hospitals is vital because most hospital-based RNs provide direct care to patients. QI skills are necessary to identify gaps between current care and best practice and to design, implement, test, and evaluate changes and are essential for R.N.s to participate effectively in QI. Newly licensed registered nurses’ (new nurses’) positions as direct caregivers could have an impact on QI if nurses lack sufficient knowledge, concepts, and tools required for QI.

2010

Kovner, C.T., Brewer, C.S., Yingrengreung, S., & Fairchild, S.

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 36(1), 29-35.

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This article describes the work experience of a national cohort of 229 RNs who participated in a survey on work environment at two different time periods. Survey results of the RNs’ experience within two and a half years of their initial RN licensure (time period two) are described in detail, and comparisons are made to their experiences one year earlier (time period one). Using Krippendorff’s technique for content analysis, six inter-related themes emerged at time period two. Findings indicate that the working environment of RNs impacts both nurses’ satisfaction and their dissatisfaction. Factors associated with dissatisfaction center on the lack of nurse manager leadership, persistent verbal abuse, high patient-to-nurse ratios, and the physical demands of bedside nursing that result in injuries.

2010

Pellico, L. H., Djukic, M., Kovner, C. T., & Brewer, C. S.

Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15(1).

doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol15No01PPT02

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The purpose of this study was to describe the differences between traditional baccalaureate graduates (TBGs) who had a baccalaureate degree in nursing and no other academic degree or diploma and second-degree-baccalaureate graduates (SDGs) who had both a baccalaureate degree in nursing and a baccalaureate or higher degree in a field other than nursing. Using a sample of 953 newly licensed registered nurses (NLRNs), we compared SDGs and TBGs on demographic and work characteristics, including attitudes toward work, intent to stay in their current job, and whether they are searching for a job. TBGs worked slightly more hours per week and were more likely to provide direct care. SDGs were more likely to plan to stay indefinitely in their first job and were less uncertain of plans to stay. SDGs experienced higher family–work conflict and lower workgroup cohesion.

2009

Brewer, C. S., Kovner, C. T., Poornima, S., Fairchild, S., Kim, H., & Djukic, M.

Journal of Professional Nursing, 25(1), 5-14. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.12.003

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Nursing turnover is costly for health care organizations. Newly licensed registered nurses work behavior is a complex process, influenced by their attitudes toward their work, personal characteristics, job opportunities, and workplace attributes. Several characteristics are significant in predicting satisfaction (ethnicity, gender) and organizational commitment (patient load, mandatory overtime, shift, and unit type) and intent to stay (income, age) over and above work attitudes.

2009

Kovner, C. T., Brewer, C. S., Greene, W., & Fairchild, S.

Nursing Economics, 27(2), 81-98.

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To understand factors that promote retention of Newly Licensed Registered Nurses (NLRNs) and those that contribute to turnover, a survey of a national sample of NLRNs was conducted. This article describes the content analysis of 612 NLRN comments about their work life. Using Krippendorff’s1 technique, 5 themes were discovered.

2009

Pellico, L. H., Brewer, C. S., & Kovner, C. T.

Nursing Outlook, 57(4), 194-203. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2008.09.008

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In an effort to better understand turnover rates in hospitals and the effect of new nurses on them, this study sought to describe the characteristics and attitudes toward work of newly licensed RNs, a population important to both the nursing profession and the health care system.

2007

Kovner, C. T., Brewer, C. S., Fairchild, S., Poornima, S., Kim, H., & Djukic, M.

American Journal of Nursing, 107(9), 58-70. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000287512.31006.66

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