Authors (including presenting author) :
Leung TY (1), Mak HN (1), Liu LW(1), Yeung PL (1), Lam CP (1), Wong SL (1),Chui ST (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital
Introduction :
Quality of nursing care is known to be strongly associated with job satisfaction and level of burnout on nurses. Many studies shown low job satisfaction together with burnout of nurse had adverse effect on working performance and patient service outcomes. A “Five-Day Work Week” program was implemented since July 2020 in a high-volume caseload with intensive nursing care - Colorectal Unit in Prince of Wales Hospital.
Objectives :
1) To examine the impact of Five-day Work Week on nurses including job satisfaction and personal well-being.
2) To examine the impact of Five-day Work Week on quality of patient care outcome.
Methodology :
A quasi-experimental interventional research was conducted from July to September 2020. Total 25 nurses worked in the unit were recruited. An anonymous self-report questionnaire, which contained demographic data and two well-developed measurement tools for nurses’ burnout - Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and job satisfaction - Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) was distributed before and 3 months after the program commenced. Nurses sick leave rate and a variety of quality patient care outcomes were measured by patients records which included medication incident rate, pressure injury, falls and time schedule for stoma education.
Result & Outcome :
In the MBI assessment, three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA) were measured. The average score of EE and DP were dramatically decreased after the program commenced. And the average score of PA was changed from 27.80 ± 5.79 to 31.08 ± 6.49, it implied the degree of burnout was improved and the nurses’ belief of competence and successful achievement at work was enhanced. In IWS score, six components of nurses’ work: pay, autonomy, task requirements, organizational policies, professional status and interactions were analyzed. The mean scale score of overall level of satisfaction was increased from 4.22 to 4.31. The first three components in the order of: autonomy, organization policies and task requirements showed obviously increased in all nurses. And the senior group of staff showed more satisfaction than the juniors, especially in the component of pay, organization policies and interactions. The sick leave rate was decreased 43% and the time frame for starting stoma education was one day earlier than the old working shift pattern. However, the medication incident rate, pressure injury and falls showed no significant changes. The Five-day Work Week working schedule had a positive impact on nurses’ job satisfaction and personal health. The new working schedule would be considered by management, especially the unit with high-volume caseload in order to improve patient care outcomes.
