Prominent attractive qualities of nurses’ work in operating room departments: A questionnaire study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The shortage of nurses in operating room departments (ORs) in Sweden and other countries can lead to reduced capacity and quality in healthcare, as well as more intense work for those on the job. Little is known about what nurses in ORs perceive as crucial for their workplace to be attractive.

OBJECTIVE:

To capture attractive qualities of nurses’ work in Swedish ORs and take a first step in the process of adapting the Attractive Work Questionnaire for use in a health care context.

METHODS:

The Attractive Work Questionnaire was completed by 147 (67% ) nurses in four Swedish ORs. Principal Component Analyses (PCA) were performed to determine the underlying structure of the data.

RESULTS:

Factors contributing to job attractiveness identified in the area “work conditions” were: relations, leadership, equipment, salary, organisation, physical work environment, location, and working hours; in the area “work content”: mental work, autonomy and work rate; and in the area “job satisfaction”: status and acknowledgement. The PCA showed consistency with the original Attractive Work Questionnaire, Cronbach’s alpha varied between 0.57–0.90.

CONCLUSIONS:

Prominent attractive qualities for nurses’ work in Swedish ORs were possible to identify through the Attractive Work Questionnaire and the results suggest that the questionnaire can be useful in a health care context.