According to most experts, the U.S. faces a growing shortage of registered nurses, threatening the quality of care hospitals can provide. In the setting of nurse shortages and simultaneous concern about patient safety, nurses' job satisfaction and their assessment of quality of care become critical. This Issue Brief highlights a cross-national survey that describes nurses' perceptions of their ...

OBJECTIVES This literature review was undertaken to evaluate undergraduate nurses' attitudes and perspectives toward older people and perceptions of working with older people. The objectives were to (1) identify if undergraduate nurses hold positive or negative attitudes and perspectives toward older people and perceptions of working with older people, and (2) determine if positive attitudes, p...

BACKGROUND We investigated the perceptions and practices regarding tobacco intervention among nurses, as improvement of such practices is important for the management of patients who smoke. METHODS Self-administered questionnaires were delivered by hospital administrative sections for nursing staff to 2676 nurses who were working in 3 cancer hospitals and 3 general hospitals. Of these, 2215 (...

AIM To explore how the content design of a computerized nursing care plan affects nurses' perceptions of their documentation experience, specifically in making care plans. BACKGROUND Nurses' attitudes towards and experiences of computer use in daily practice have been studied. However, no studies have examined how using a computerized nursing care planning system affects nurses' perceptions o...

BACKGROUND Current thinking about patient safety emphasizes the relationship between organizational factors, that is, latent risk factors (LRFs) and patient safety. This study explores the influence of the operating theatre (OT), intensive care unit (ICU), and disciplines on ratings of LRFs. If we have an understanding of the contribution made by these factors, we can identify significant point...

OBJECTIVE To promote evidence-based decision making regarding hospital staffing, the authors examined the characteristics of supplemental nurses, as well as the relationship of supplemental staff to nurse outcomes and adverse events. BACKGROUND The use of supplemental nurses to bolster permanent nursing staff in hospitals is widespread but controversial. Quality concerns have been raised rega...

One aim of nursing education is to help students learn to be beginning practitioners, which includes making clinical judgments that ensure patient safety. Clinical judgments often determine how quickly nurses detect a life-threatening complication, how soon patients leave the hospital, or how quickly patients learn to take care of themselves. However, current research shows that new graduates d...

Caring should be incorporated in the curriculum and the focus of nursing education. However, measurement of nurses' perceptions of caring abilities remains an area that is not well explored. This pilot study explored nursing students' perceptions of caring and their ability to form caring relationships with clients after hearing clinical nurses discuss their own caring experiences. Fourteen nur...

BACKGROUND When hospitalized for medical conditions, many people with severe mental illness (SMI) have poor outcomes, yet little is known about contributing factors. Studies exploring the care experience from nurses' perspectives described care processes as "difficult." None of these studies were conducted in the United States, and sociocultural contexts significantly affect perceptions of SMI....