Potential effects of the nursing work environment on the work-family conflict in operating room nurses.

Background: The nursing working environment is an important subsystem in the hospital environment. A good working environment could have a positive impact on nurses. However, the work-family conflict and unsatisfactory working environment could significantly reduce their working enthusiasm, efficacy as well as the overall quality of the nursing, increase their fatigue, and thereby compromise their career status.

Aim: To explore the possible status quo and to analyze the correlation between work environment perception and the work-family conflict among nurses in the operating room.

Methods: A total of 312 operating room nurses from two first-class hospitals at Grade 2 and two first-class hospitals at Grade 3 in China from May to September 2017 were included in this research using the cluster sampling method. The data, including the general information questionnaire, the practice environment scale of the nursing work index (PES-NWI), and the work-family conflict scale, were systematically collected. Pearson correlation analysis was applied to analyze the correlation between the two scores, with influencing factors analyzed by hierarchical regression analysis.

Results: A total of 312 questionnaires were issued, and the response rate and effective questionnaire rate were both 96.15% (300/312). The total scores of the PES-NWI scale and the work-family conflict scale were 3.07 ± 0.43 ( maximum up to 4 points) and 52.32 ± 8.79 ( maximum up to 90 points), respectively. The scores of the PES-NWI scale were negatively correlated with that of work-family conflict scale (all < 0.05). The perception of the nursing work environment and the number of night shifts per month were the major factors contributing to the work-family conflict (all < 0.05).

Conclusion: The nursing work environment and the work-family conflict among nurses in the operating room were both found at a medium level with a negative correlation between the two.