Nursing work environment in Saudi Arabia

AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess the work environment as perceived by nurses in a large tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. BACKGROUND: The quality of patient care services has been associated with the quality of work environment of nurses. It is therefore important to assess the work environment in order to acquire baseline data and enable the institution to benchmark their status from established quality standards. METHOD: This study used a descriptive survey with 1007 staff nurses across service units of a 1000-bed government-operated hospital. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Assessment Questionnaire was used for data collection. Scores were aggregated and interpreted. RESULT: Effective decision making, authentic leadership, appropriate staffing, true collaboration, skilled communication and meaningful recognition were rated as good (mean range 3.53-3.76). CONCLUSION: Healthy work environments mutually benefit patients, nurses, nurse managers, health care providers, the health team, administration, the institution and the community at large. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Valuable baseline data on the status of the work environment in this setting were generated. This should allow administrators and staff to work together in improving weaknesses and strengthening further whatever gains that are attained to ensure consistent provision of safe and quality patient care.