The Work of Nursing Factor
The work of nursing factor includes cultural issues of patient/family and the organization, delegation, mentoring/precepting, floating/cross-training, conflicting responsibilities, patient/family issues, lack of time, system failures, psychosocial, lack of backup, no safety net, and physical space.
Culture-patients and staff: The additional time and attention required to address special cultural issues of patients, families, and the diverse backgrounds of co-workers.
Patient/family Issues:Needs of and conflicts related to the emotional, physical, and spiritual concerns of the patient and family members.
Cultural:Factors that create an atmosphere that is non-collegial and non-professional. Examples are decreased loyalty to the institution by coworkers, decreased unit cohesiveness, lack of trust and respect, the presence of time clocks and the lack of perquisites equal to physicians such as a “nurses’ lounge.”
Delegation:Any responsibility of the RN for oversight, assignment and coordination of the tasks assigned to other nursing personnel.
Mentoring/Precepting:Additional responsibilities of supervising and monitoring the patient care delivered by nurses who are either students or new nurses..
Floating/Cross training/Unfamiliar tasks/needs:The unease created when a nurse is required to perform nursing tasks/functions/roles or work in areas with which the nurse is not familiar or for which the nurse is not prepared.
Conflicting responsibilities:The dilemmas experienced by the nurse when there are competing demands of equal importance.
Time: The difficulty of performing or prioritizing multiple tasks/functions/roles within a specified time frame
System failures:A breakdown or failure of any system put in place by the organization to accomplish the delivery of care.
Psychosocial:Episodes in which nurses have experienced verbal assaults, physical violence and/or feelings of conflict or friction with co-workers, particularly physicians.
Lack of safety net:A lack of backup for a system failure
No safety net: Lack of backup and support to respond to and recover from an unexpected event.
Physical:Actual physical surroundings in which nurses work. Examples are the multiple stimuli that affect concentration, or the lack of any space that is quiet, or the lack of room to do the work-small tight spaces with many people.
