Title: Factors related to excellence in the nursing practices of nurses working in hospitals in Japan
Abstract:
Purpose: This study aims to identify factors related to excellence in nursing practices among nurses working in hospitals in Japan.
Methods: From May to June 2020, a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire survey was administered to 661 nurses in the second year or later working in inpatient wards at two participating public hospitals in the Tohoku region and one public hospital in the Kanto region of Japan. Survey items were Self-assessment Scale for Excellence in Nursing practice(NES) (35 items on 7 subscales), Career Commitment Scale (8 items), Emotional Organizational Commitment Scale (3 items), Individual Factors, and Work environment factors.
Ethics Considerations: This study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of the International University of Health and Welfare.
Results: Responses were obtained from 453 participants, and responses with no blanks or duplications in age, gender, or NES (68.5%) were determined to be valid for analysis. The mean age and length of the nursing experience of these respondents were 38.0 ± 9.5 and 16.2 ± 9.1 years. The mean total scores for the NES, the JCCS, and the affective organizational commitment scale were 121.3 ± 19.2, 2.74 ± 0.8 (middle score range), and 3.01 ± 0.7, respectively. The results of multiple regression analysis (adjusted R2=0.495) showed that those who had compassion for their patients (β = 0.221), those who reflected on their nursing practice (β = 0.179), those who were confident in their clinical decisions (β = 0.136), those who were considering using research findings (β = 0.129), and those who had approval from their colleagues (β = 0.128), those who participate in conferences and trainings to obtain the latest information (β = 0.115), and those who have mentored new graduate nurses for one year (β = 0.100) were found to have high excellence in nursing practiceIn this study, it was found that “caring” had the largest standardized partial regression coefficient β and the highest association with excellence in nursing practice.
Discussion and Conclusion: Nursing starts with having an interest in the patients, and understanding their situation through wishing to meet the patients‘ needs, then developing this into clinical decision and nursing practices. To improve the quality of nursing practices, it is necessary to develop a “caring” attitude and improve the clinical decision and reflection skills of nurses through continuing education. Further, it is also important to encourage nurses to participate in conferences and training courses and utilize research results. Improvements in the work environment are also needed so that nurses can experience educating junior colleagues and obtain positive feedback from peers.
