Working in an intensive or non-intensive care unit: does it make any difference?

OBJECTIVE

To compare intensive care unit and non-intensive care unit nurses regarding work situation characteristics (e.g., work pressure), reaction variables (e.g., job satisfaction), and individual and psychosocial characteristics (e.g., need for autonomy) to explore whether it is more stressful to work on an intensive care unit than on a non-intensive care unit.

DESIGN

Descriptive, correlational study.

SETTING

Sixteen randomly selected general hospitals in The Netherlands.

SAMPLE

561 intensive care unit and non-intensive care unit nurses from 36 nursing units.

MEASUREMENTS

Subjects completed a survey questionnaire with items derived from the Job Diagnostic Survey, the Leader Behavior Questionnaire, the Organizational Stress Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Coping Questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The outcome measures were work-related variables including work pressure, autonomy, feedback and clarity, job satisfaction, experienced job significance, health complaints, absence frequency, social support, need for autonomy, and coping strategies.

MAIN RESULTS

The results of the study showed that nurses who work in intensive care units had more positive scores than nurses who work in non-intensive care units. Thus the assumptions that intensive care units present more stressful work situations and that intensive care unit nurses show more negative reactions to their work were not supported in this study.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate non-intensive care unit nurses may have a greater need for interventions in the work situation.