Surveys coincide with International Nurses Day

Research into whether nurses feel valued, their career patterns and the levels of distress they experience in the workplace is being carried out by Massey University.

Three separate studies are currently taking place at the University to find out more about the pressures facing people in the profession. In addition, a $750 scholarship will be awarded on Thursday to a nurse from the Capital Coast District Health Board region who wins the Massey University Award for Emerging Nursing Leadership.

The scholarship is being presented on International Nurses Day which is observed every May 12 - the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday.

The School of Management in the College of Business is surveying 7000 nurses on the Nursing Council register to find out whether they feel valued in the New Zealand health sector.

Associate Professor of Human Resource Management Paul Toulson says registered nurses were chosen as the focus of this survey because of the pivotal role they play in patient care and wellbeing.

“This research will provide insight into registered nurses’ perceptions of their value,” Associate Professor Toulson says. The findings will be sent to the Nursing Council of New Zealand and Health Workforce New Zealand.

An international online survey to track the workforce patterns of newly-graduated registered nurses involves around 400 nurses from Massey University, Auckland University of Technology, the Universities of Auckland, Queensland, Dublin and the Universite de Montreal.

Principal investigator for the study in New Zealand, Dr Stephen Neville who is postgraduate programme coordinator at the School of Health and Social Services, says the survey asks what areas of nursing are worked, how long nurses stay in a particular job and when they choose to do postgraduate study. The data will be valuable for assessing the future work needs in the nursing profession, he says.

Another survey, to be carried out by the School, is looking to assess the levels of moral distress among nurses. This occurs when professional cannot carry out what they believe to be ethically appropriate actions due to internal or external constraints.

The survey, based on a similar one conducted through the University of Virginia in the United States, has been adapted for New Zealand clinical practitioners through a trial survey undertaken among nursing students.

Senior lecturer in the School of Health and Social Services, Dr Martin Woods, says preliminary results from student trials indicate that nurses can suffer a considerable amount of moral distress, and some leave their positions as a result. The survey to be conducted nationwide next month asks nurses to rate the frequency at which they experience situations that are morally distressing to them, and how disturbing the experience had been.