La salute organizzativa degli infermieri in alcune strutture sanitarie di Roma e della provincia

Introduction The human factor is a key factor in the provision of healthcare services, that directly influence the outcomes. Therefore, the way health operators are valued and staffed is strategic for the success of the healthcare organisations. In the Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship of the IPASVI Board of Nursing in Rome, a survey was conducted from December 2009 to December 2011 to measure the organisational health of nurses. Independent organisational variables, outcome variables (general satisfaction, lack of motivation, and indicators of psychophysical ailments), and planning variables (the nurses’ organisational/working area and their professional area) were investigated . Materials and Methods The survey was conducted using the Nursing Questionnaire on Organisational Health on a sample of 4751 nurses working in different healthcare organization in the city and in the Province of Rome. Results The results show the presence of stress and fatigue in the nurses in all the health structure types considered. In health structures and university polyclinics were found negative indicators like the presence of gossip, the feeling of counting very little for the organization, the resentment towards the organization and the feeling to do useless things. Professional integration and general level of satisfaction were found in all the health structure types considered. Some aspects like openness to innovation, the comfort and the safety in the professional environment were found only in the private health structures. Isolation, routine and indicators of mental and physical malaise were not present in the structures considered. In this study hasn’t been evaluated the statistical significativity of the results. Conclusions It’s important that health operators feel satisfied within the organisation they work for, and this impact on their motivation and sense of belonging to the organisation itself. Nurses will be able to provide personalised holistic care only if all workers have a good organisational health, which, instead, in the health realities considered in this study, showed to be lacking for some aspects. To promote the establishment of an organisational health, the health structures must offer a comfortable and safe environment, grant more decisional power and contain the stress and the fatigue with an adequate planning of nurses’ turnover. The results of this study can be the starting point for the design of studies with a stronger methodology.