Analyzing the Impact of Practice Environment on Nurse Burnout Using Conventional and Multilevel Logistic Regression Models

Background: Most of the previous studies on nursing practice environment and job burnout employed conventional analyses ignoring the impact of unit-level data clusters. This study addressed this gap by examining the effects of the nursing practice environments on dimensions of occupational burnout among a sample of Chinese nurses using multilevel logistic regression models and demonstrating the superiority of employing multilevel models over conventional models within this context. Methods: A proportionate stratified sampling method was applied in this cross-sectional study that invited 1,300 registered nurses (RNs) from nine clinical units of a large, academic hospital in urban China to complete the questionnaire. Nurse-reported information was obtained using the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Findings: A total of 1,178 valid questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 90.62%. RNs generally perceived their nursing practice environment as favorable as measured by the PES-NWI. Approximately 40% of the respondents reported experiencing emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The multivariate models indicated that nurse burnout was significantly associated with nurse participation in hospital affairs, nursing foundations for quality of care, and adequate staffing. In addition, our results illustrated the advantage of multilevel modeling over the conventional modeling for handling hierarchical data in terms of the accuracy of the estimates and the goodness-of-fit of the model. Conclusions/Application to Practice: These findings underscore the importance of measures aimed at enhancing nursing practice environments to prevent RNs from experiencing feelings of burnout and of considering multilevel analysis in future nursing research.

Instruments for assessing professional nursing practice environments: An integrative review

ABSTRACT Objective: To identify the instruments used to evaluate the professional nursing practice environments in the hospital context. Method: An integrative review, whose research process was conducted independently by two researchers in the period from July to August 2019 in the CINHAL, PubMed and SciELO databases. Results: Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 53 studies published between 2009 and 2019 were considered for analysis. Ten instruments and three thematic areas were identified: instruments for the assessment of the nursing professional practice environments; implications of the use of instruments for the assessment of nursing professional practice environments; limitations of the instruments for the assessment of nursing professional practice environments. Conclusion: Despite the relevance of the instruments identified, this integrative review provides contributions that support the need to use specific tools to assess the nursing practice environments that include the structure, process and outcome components.

A System-Level Approach to Improving the Care of the Older Critical Care Patient

As the population continues to age, the specialized needs of older adult patients warrant the close attention of the critical care nurse. The combination of critical illness, age-related changes, multiple comorbidities, and the hospital environment can make the diagnosis and management of the older adult’s critical illness challenging. The NICHE (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders) program provides a framework to create an aging-sensitive care environment in the critical care setting. The Geriatric Resource Nurse model is the foundation of the program. The goals of NICHE are to support nursing departments to (1) bring evidence- based geriatric practice to the bedside; (2) build patient- and family-centered environments; (3) cultivate healthy and productive practice environments aligned with meeting the specialized needs of older adults and their families (“geriatric nursing practice environments”); and (4) conduct comprehensive measurement of geriatric initiatives.