Peerson Anita, Aitken Robyn, Manias Elizabeth, Parker Judith, Wong Kitty
School of Postgraduate Nursing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
J Adv Nurs. 2002 Dec;40(5):504-12. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2002.02407.x.
Agency nursing is a poorly understood and under-researched phenomenon. Despite the considerable costs and possible benefits of using agency nurses, little is known about the nature of agency nursing from different perspectives, including hospital and agency managers.
To describe the professional relationship between hospitals and nursing agencies, utilization trends of agency nurses, and institutional policies relating to the employment of agency nurses.
A telephone survey was conveyed to managers of 70 acute hospitals (service purchasers) and 26 agencies (service providers) to provide baseline information on the utilization of agency nurses in acute hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. Introductory telephone calls were made to the chief nursing officers of the hospitals and the chief executive officers of nursing agencies in order to explain and seek approval for the proposed project. Approval to conduct telephone interviews was obtained from 30 acute hospitals and six agencies, representing a response rate of 43% and 23%, respectively. Separate questionnaires were used for the two categories of respondent. In some cases the questionnaire could not be completed using the telephone and a copy was then sent by post for completion.
Findings revealed the high utilization of agency nurses in hospitals, the limited nature of continuing education for agency nurses, tensions between matching agency nurse qualifications with acute specialty needs and the notion that agencies preferred nurses to be flexible in their work assignments.
The study was limited by the fact that the final sample was small (30 hospitals and six agencies), and therefore may not be representative of the wider population of Melbourne hospitals or agencies. However, it provided evidence on the utilization of agency nurses in public and private hospitals that will help shape policy on the regulation of the agency nursing workforce.
代理护士是一种人们了解甚少且研究不足的现象。尽管使用代理护士成本高昂且可能带来益处，但从包括医院和代理机构管理者在内的不同角度来看，对于代理护士的本质却知之甚少。
描述医院与护理代理机构之间的专业关系、代理护士的使用趋势以及与雇佣代理护士相关的机构政策。
对澳大利亚墨尔本70家急症医院（服务购买方）的管理者和26家代理机构（服务提供方）进行了电话调查，以获取关于急症医院使用代理护士的基线信息。向医院的首席护理官和护理代理机构的首席执行官打了介绍性电话，以解释并寻求对拟议项目的批准。分别从30家急症医院和6家代理机构获得了进行电话访谈的批准，回复率分别为43%和23%。针对两类受访者使用了不同的问卷。在某些情况下，无法通过电话完成问卷，随后便邮寄了一份问卷以供填写。
研究结果显示医院对代理护士的高使用率、代理护士继续教育的有限性、在使代理护士资质与急症专科需求相匹配方面存在的紧张关系，以及代理机构倾向于护士在工作任务上具有灵活性的观念。
该研究受到最终样本规模较小（30家医院和6家代理机构）这一事实的限制，因此可能无法代表墨尔本更广泛的医院或代理机构群体。然而，它提供了关于公立和私立医院使用代理护士的证据，这将有助于制定有关规范代理护士劳动力的政策。
