Working conditions of nurses and absenteeism: is there a relationship? An empirical analysis using National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses.

OBJECTIVE

This paper investigates the relationship between the working conditions and illness- and injury-related absenteeism of full-time Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs).

METHOD

We used 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses, which was designed to be representative of nurses employed in nursing in Canada in the fall of 2005. We estimated Negative Binomial regression models separately for RNs and LPNs with health related absenteeism as the dependent variable. The regressors include working conditions, work settings, and shift type/length along with socio-demographic variables.

RESULTS

Depression is a significant determinant of absenteeism for both RNs and LPNs. However, workload and lack of respect are significant determinant of absenteeism for LPNs but not for RNs. Both RNs and LPNs working in other setting (physician offices, private nursing educations, educational institutions, governments and associations) will have less absenteeism than those working in hospitals. For LPNs, those working in long-term facility will also have less absenteeism than those working in hospitals. The length and type of shift also has significant effect on absenteeism.

DISCUSSION

Improving working conditions with a resulting reduction in absenteeism might be an economic way to increase the labour supply of nurses without increasing new admissions or new recruits.