Conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion as predictors of nursing work performance: a facet-level analysis

AIM: This study examined the relationships between the personality traits of conscientiousness, openness and extraversion at trait and facet-levels and three indicators of work role performance; proficiency, 'adaptivity' and proactivity measured at individual, team and organisational levels. BACKGROUND: This is one of the first studies to explore the relationship between personality, measured at trait and facet-level and performance using a comprehensive range of performance indicators. METHOD: An online survey of 393 nurses from health-care organisations across Australia was conducted to test hypothesised relationships. RESULTS: Path analyses revealed numerous relationships between personality, measured at both trait and facet-levels, and work role performance. Conscientiousness was highlighted as the strongest driver of work role performance across all the indicators, with extraversion also strongly associated with work role performance. Openness to experience, previously considered a week predictor of performance, was, when examined at the facet-level, related to all of the work role performance indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggests a bandwidth effect, where the personality traits drive global performance while the facets drive specific performance. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Better understanding of the relationship between personality and work role performance will help nurse managers to foster the fit between individual and organisation, improving job satisfaction, engagement, retention and performance in role.

Nursing work and nursing knowledge : exploring the work of women's health nurses, patterns of power and praxis

The majority of women's health nurses in this study work in generalist community health centres. They have developed their praxis within the philosophy and policies of the broader women's health movement and primary health care principles in Australia. The fundamental assumption underlying this study is that women's health nurses possess a unique body of knowledge and clinical wisdom that has not been previously documented and explored. The epistemological base from which these nurses' operate offers important insights into the substantive issues that create and continually shape the practice world of nurses and their clients. Whether this represents a (re)construction of the dominant forms of health care service delivery for women is examined in this study. The study specifically aims at exploring the practice issues and experience of women's health service provision by women's health nurses in the context of the provision of cervical cancer screening services. In mapping this particular group of nurses practice, it sets out to examine the professional and theoretical issues in contemporary nursing and women's health care. In critically analysing the powerful discourses that shape and reshape nursing work, the study raises the concern that previous analyses of pursing work tend to universalise the structural and social subordination of nurses and nursing knowledge. This universalism is most often based on examples of midwifery and nursing work in hospital settings, and subsequently, because of these conceptualisations, all of nursing is too often deemed as a dependent occupation, with little agency, and is analysed as always in relation to medicine, to hospitals, to other knowledge forms. Denoting certain discourses as dominant proposes a relationship of power and knowledge and the thesis argues that all work relations and practices in health are structured by certain power/knowledge relations. This analysis reveals that there IX are many competing and complimentary power/knowledge relations that structure nursing, but that nursing, and in particular women's health nurses, also challenge the power/knowledge relations around them. Through examining theories of power and knowledge the analysis, argues that theoretical eclecticism is necessary to address the complex and varied nature of nursing work. In particular it identifies that postmodern and radical feminist theorising provide the most appropriate framework to further analyse and interpret the work of women's health nurses. Fundamental to the position argued in this thesis is a feminist perspective. This position creates important theoretical and methodological links throughout the whole study. Feminist methodology was employed to guide the design, the collection and the analysis. Intrinsic to this process was the use of the 'voices' of women's health nurses as the basis for theorising. The 'voices' of these nurses are highlighted in the chapters as italicised bold script. A constant companion along the way in examining women's health nurses' work, was the reflexivity with feminist research processes, the theoretical discussions and their 'voices'. Capturing and analysing descriptive accounts of nursing praxis is seen in this thesis as providing a way to theorise about nursing work. This methodology is able to demonstrate the knowledge forms embedded in clinical nursing praxis. Three conceptual threads emerge throughout the discussions: one focuses on nursing praxis as a distinct process, with its own distinct epistemological base rather than in relation to 'other' knowledge forms; another describes the medical restriction and opposition as experienced by this group of nurses, but also of their resistance to medical opposition. The third theme apparent from the interviews, and which was conceptualised as beyond resistance, was the description of the alternative discourses evident in nursing work, and this focused on notions of being a professional and on autonomous nursing praxis. This study concludes that rather than accepting the totalising discourses about nursing there are examples within nursing of resistance—both ideologically and X in practice—to these dominant discourses. Women's health nurses represent an important model of women's health service delivery, an analysis of which can contribute to critically reflecting on the 'paradigm of oppression' cited in nursing and about nursing more generally. Reflecting on women's health service delivery also has relevance in today's policy environment, where structural shifts in Commonwealth/State funding arrangements in community based care, may undermine women's health programs. In summary this study identifies three important propositions for nursing: • nursing praxis can reconstruct traditional models of health care; • nursing praxis is powerful and able to 'resist' dominant discourses; and • nursing praxis can be transformative. Joining feminist perspectives and alternative analyses of power provides a pluralistic and emancipatory politics for viewing, describing and analysing 'other' nursing work. At the micro sites of power and knowledge relations—in the everyday practice worlds of nurses, of negotiation and renegotiation, of work on the margins and at the centre—women's health nurses' praxis operates as a positive, productive and reconstructive force in health care.

Agency nursing work in acute care settings: perceptions of hospital nursing managers and agency nurse providers

• There is a paucity of research in investigating agency nursing work from the perspectives of hospital nursing managers and agency nurse providers.

• This exploratory paper examines the hospital nursing managers' and agency nurse providers' perceptions and experiences of agency nursing work.

• Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with three agency nurse providers and eight hospital nursing managers. Because of the lack of previous research in this area, an exploratory, semi-structured interviewing technique was deemed appropriate.

• Three major themes emerged from interview data: planning for ward allocation, communication and professionalism.

• In planning for ward allocation, hospital managers were primarily concerned with maintaining adequate numbers of nursing staff in the ward settings. A major concern for agency nurse providers was inappropriate allocation of temporary staff.

• Communication was valued in different ways. While hospital managers focused on communication between the agency nurse and other permanent members of the health care team, agency providers were concerned with exchanges between agencies and hospital organizations, and between the agencies and agency nurses.

• For both groups, responsibility for professional development and the status of agency nursing as a career choice for graduate and experienced nurses were the focal aspects for consideration.

• A limitation of this study is the small number of individual interviews conducted with hospital nursing managers and agency nurse providers. Nevertheless, the findings represent the views of 11 individuals in senior managerial roles.

• The findings reinforce the need to enhance collaboration between hospitals and nursing agencies, and to examine how divergent views of agency nursing work could be reconciled – with the aim of providing quality patient care.

Agency-nursing work : perceptions and experiences of agency nurses

This paper explores agency-nursing work from the perspective of agency nurses to gain in-depth understanding of their clinical practice, their relationships with the employing agency, hospitals and permanent nurses, and their professional status. For this study, individual interviews were conducted with ten agency nurses who were registered with one of three nursing agencies in Melbourne, Australia. Five major themes emerged from interview data: orientation, allocation of agency nurses, reasons for doing agency-nursing work, experiences with hospital staff, and professionalism. The findings reveal that the primary reason for nurses engaging in agency-nursing work is for the flexibility it offers. While agency nurses described a commitment to professionalism, the findings emphasise the need to establish effective communication networks between agency nurses, nursing agencies and hospital institutions. Such communication between stakeholders is important to facilitate discussion of issues such as appropriate notification of shift availability, appropriate assignment of work and recognition of the agency nurse as a valuable member of the health care team. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of comprehensive orientation and education for agency nurses to shift the focus of their daily work from task completion to more comprehensive patient care.

Something normal in a very, very abnormal environment – Nursing work to honour the life of dying infants and children in neonatal and paediatric intensive care in Australia

The majority of deaths of children and infants occur in paediatric and neonatal intensive care settings. For nurses, managing an infant/child's deterioration and death can be very challenging. Nurses play a vital role in how the death occurs, how families are supported leading up to and after the infant/child's death. This paper describes the nurses' endeavours to create normality amidst the sadness and grief of the death of a child in paediatric and neonatal ICU. Focus groups and individual interviews with registered nurses from NICU and PICU settings gathered data on how neonatal and paediatric intensive care nurses care for families when a child dies and how they perceived their ability and preparedness to provide family care. Four themes emerged from thematic analysis: (1) respecting the child as a person; (2) creating opportunities for family involvement/connection; (3) collecting mementos; and (4) planning for death. Many of the activities described in this study empowered parents to participate in the care of their child as death approached. Further work is required to ensure these principles are translated into practice.

Investigating people management issues in a third sector health care organisation - an inductive approach

Objective : To explain use of inductive convergent interviewing to generate the perceived critical people management issues, as perceived by staff, as a prelude to longitudinal surveys in a third sector health care organisation.

Design : Convergent interviewing is a qualitative technique that addresses research topics that lack theoretical underpinning and is an inductive, flexible, evolving research approach. The key issues converged after six rounds of interviews as well as a further round to ensure that all of the common people management issues had been generated.

Setting : Studies in employee behaviour in the health care industry exist, but there is little in the way of tested models of predictors of such behaviour in third sector organisations in the Australian health care industry. The context is what differentiates this study covering a range of facilities and positions in hospitals and aged care situations within one third sector health care organisation.

Subjects : The study proposed twenty seven extensive interviews over a range of facilities and positions. Twenty one interviewees participated in the final convergent process.

Conclusions : Critical issues included: workload across occupational groups, internal management support, adequate training, the appropriate skill mix in staff, physical risk in work, satisfaction, as well as other issues. These issues confirm the proposition of sector‑ness in health organisations that are multi‑dimensional rather than uni‑dimensional.

Factors that predict work ability : incorporating a measure of organisational values towards ageing

This research conducted in an Australian public sector organisation aimed to identify the main factors that predict work ability for employees. According to Ilmarinen's (1999) model of work ability, an individual's work ability is influenced by their general health, attitudes, values and motivation interacting with workplace and other environmental demands. However what is unknown is the influence of value incongruence (i.e. the lack of fit between individual and organisational values), particularly when that incongruence results in age discrimination. This is important in an Australian context where youth and symbols of youth are over-valued in business environments and where older workers themselves perceive age discrimination as the single most important cause of early exit from the labour force.

109 participants completed a survey about work ability. Differences between work ability and health were not found between older and younger workers suggesting that strategies for improving work ability could be targeted at all employees rather than just older employees. However there were significant differences found between older and younger workers on reasons that would influence employees to stay longer in the organisation. Older workers tended to be more influenced by the provision of less demanding work, and positive attitudes towards older workers. Younger workers tended to be more influenced by opportunities to be employed in another section of the organisation, skills training opportunities and career advancement opportunities.

Results from hierarchical regression analyses suggested that good physical and mental health, and low occupational stress related to workplace culture were significant predictors of increased work ability. Results also suggested that occupational stress is likely to decrease with: high work ability and work satisfaction; and high value congruence. Implications for wellbeing programs to include the development of targeted organisational values are discussed.

Factors influencing the planning undertaken by women during pregnancy for their return to work after maternity leave

The planning women (N = 199) do during pregnancy for their return to work post birth and the factors that influence employment planning during late pregnancy were investigated in this study. The findings revealed three components of planning: Planning for Childcare, Planning with Partner, and Planning with Employer. Several factors emerged as consistent cross-sectional predictors of these components (work satisfaction, hours worked before commencing maternity leave, anticipated weeks of maternity leave and anticipated hours per week on the return to work). Anticipated support from family and friends, and from the workplace also predicted Planning with Partner and Planning with Employer, respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

A model for predicting clinician satisfaction with clinical supervision

Clinical supervision can improve staff satisfaction and reduce stress and burnout within the workplace and can be a component of organizational readiness to implement evidence-based practice. This study explores clinical supervision processes in alcohol and drug counselors working in telephone and online services, assessing how their experiences of supervision link to workplace satisfaction and well-being. Standardized surveys (Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale and the TCU Survey of Organizational Functioning) were completed by 43 alcohol and drug telephone counselors. Consistency of supervisors and good communication were the strongest predictors of satisfaction with clinical supervision, and satisfaction with supervision was a good predictor of overall workplace satisfaction. © 2014 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Situation awareness in undergraduate nursing students managing simulated patient deterioration

Nursing work often occurs in complex and potentially hazardous settings. Awareness of patient and practice environments is an imperative for nurses in practice.

Organizational climate and self-efficacy as predictors of staff strain in caring for dementia residents: a mediation model

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To date, no research has investigated how the organizational climate of aged care influences the self-efficacy of staff in caring for residents with dementia, or, how self-efficacy is associated with the strain experienced by staff. This study sought to investigate the extent to which the self-efficacy of aged care staff mediates the association between organizational climate variables (such as autonomy, trusting and supportive workplace relations, and the recognition of competence and ability, and perceptions of workplace pressure) and staff strain. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was implemented in which 255 residential aged care staff recruited across aged care facilities in Melbourne, Australia. Staff completed self-report measures of organizational climate, self-efficacy, and strains in caring for residents with dementia. RESULTS: Indirect effects analyses using bootstrapping indicated that self-efficacy of staff mediated the association between the organizational climate variables of autonomy, trust, support, pressure, and staff strain. IMPLICATIONS: The findings of this study emphasize that the aged care sector needs to target organizational climate variables that enhance the self-efficacy of staff, and that this in turn, can help ameliorate the strain experienced by staff caring for residents experiencing dementia.

How employees remain happy: explaining a paradox

This paper draws on subjective quality of life theory to explain findings from three studies of quality of work life. The studies were conducted with 346 regional process workers, metropolitan employment officers and nurses, The results support the adoption of the theory of homeostasis as an explanation for findings on subjective wellbeing at work surveys. This research goes some way in explaining the paradox that perceived job and work satisfaction remain stable over time, while working conditions may vary widely

People management issues in a third sector health care organisation: preliminary findings

Objective – To use inductive convergent interviewing to generate the perceived critical people management issues of the day as perceived by staff. This was used as preliminary to longitudinal ongoing survey in a third sector health care organisation.

Design – Convergent interviewing is a qualitative technique that addresses research topics that lack theoretical underpinning and is an inductive, flexible, evolving research instrument. The key issues converged after six rounds of interviews as well as a further round to ensure that all of the common people management issues had been generated.

Setting - There is very little in the way of tested models of predictors of employee behaviour in third sector organisations in the Australian health care industry. This study investigates a range of facilities and positions, in various hospitals and aged care facilities within the one third sector health care organisation.

Subjects – The study proposed twenty seven extensive interviews over a range of facilities and positions. Twenty one interviewees participated in the final convergent process.

Conclusions - Critical issues included: workload across occupational groups, internal management support, adequate training, the appropriate skill mix in staff, physical risk in work, satisfaction, as well as other issues. These issues confirm the proposition of sector-ness in health organisations that are multi-dimensional rather than uni-dimensional.

Changes in higher education and valuing the job : the views of accounting academics in Australia

In a previous article (Bellamy et al., 2003), the authors reported on survey research that investigated reasons why academics from business disciplines enter and remain in academia, and the conditions they deem necessary to creating ideal work satisfaction. For both entering and remaining, as well as in achieving ideal work satisfaction, the most important factors were found to be autonomy and flexibility, with teaching and research the next most important factors. In a subsequent analysis of the data, reported in this article, the authors identify and explore significant differences between accounting academics and other business academics in the relative importance placed on these key factors. The findings may be used to inform policy makers and university administrators of the importance of discipline differences when identifying key factors for recruitment and retention of accounting academics specifically, and business academics generally.