Examining the Relationship Among Ambulatory Surgical Settings Work Environment, Nurses' Characteristics, and Medication Errors Reporting.

PURPOSE: To describe work environment characteristics (leadership style and safety climate) of ambulatory surgical settings and to examine the relationship between work environment and nurses' willingness to report medication errors in ambulatory surgical settings. DESIGN: Descriptive correlational design using survey methodology. METHODS: The sample of this study consisted of 40 unit-based registered nurses, working as full time, part time, or as needed in four ambulatory surgical settings affiliated with one health care system located in Northeast Ohio. FINDINGS: The results of two separate regression analyses, one with three nurse manager's leadership styles and another with five safety climate dimensions as independent variables, explained 44% and 50%, respectively, on variance of nurses' willingness to report medication errors. CONCLUSION: To increase nurses' willingness to report medication errors, ambulatory surgical settings administrators should invest in nurse manager leadership training programs and focus on enhancing safety climate aspects, particularly errors feedback and organizational learning.

Work environment characteristics of high-quality home health agencies.

This concurrent mixed-method study examines the nurse work environment of high-quality Medicare-certified home health agencies. High-quality (n=6) and low-quality (n=6) home health agencies were recruited using agency-level publicly reported patient outcomes. Direct care registered nurses (RNs) from each agency participated in a focus group and completed the Practice Environment Scale of the Nurse Work Index (PES-NWI). No significant differences were found in the PES-NWI results between nurses working in high- and low-quality agencies, though nurses in high-quality agencies scored higher on all subscales. Nurses working in all the high-quality agencies identified themes of adequate staffing, supportive managers, and team work. These themes were not consistently identified in low-quality agencies. Themes of supportive managers and team work are reflective of effective leadership at the manager level. Agencies struggling to improve quality of care might consider developing their managers' leadership skills.

Nurses' perception of their manager's leadership style and unit climate: are there generational differences?

AIM: To describe and compare how nurses representing four age cohorts perceive their manager's leadership style and unit climate. BACKGROUND: The current workforce consists of nurses representing four generational cohorts. Nursing literature suggests that nurses from each age cohort think, behave and approach work differently. Limited empirical evidence, however, exists about how nurses from each age cohort perceive two aspects of their work environment: their managers' leadership style and unit climate. METHOD: This cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted using a convenience sample of 475 registered nurses working in different inpatient units in three community non-magnet hospitals. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Only nurses from Boomer and Gen-Xers had sufficient representation to be included in the data analysis. Nurses from the two main age cohorts did not differ in their perceptions of their manager's leadership style. Significant differences were found in two unit climate dimensions. The Gen-Xers had a less favourable perception of their unit climate related to warmth and belonging and administrative support. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse manager's might reflect on how they interact with different age cohorts; and to involve nurses from various age cohorts in the development of policies to create a flexible work environment.