THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG NURSING UNIT STRUCTURE, AUTONOMY, PROFESSIONAL JOB SATISFACTION, AND NURSE-PATIENT INTERACTION IN AMBULATORY CARE CLINICS.
Contributors: Medical College of Georgia.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 259
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.; Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations.
Description: In this study the relationships among nursing unit structure, autonomy, professional job satisfaction, and nurse-patient interaction in ambulatory care clinics were investigated. A conceptual framework was derived from the Structure Interaction Model for Health Care Behavior, a model developed by the researcher that combined and synthesized concepts from quality of care, organization theory, and client-centered care.

The hypothesized relationships were investigated using LISREL VI analysis. A sample of 134 registered nurses and 375 patients from 5 ambulatory care settings was used in this study. Nurses' perceptions of nursing unit structure, autonomy, and professional job satisfaction and patients' perceptions of the nurse-patient interaction were measured using five instruments.

Testing of the proposed causal model resulted in beginning support for the causal chain between the theoretical constructs of nursing unit structure, autonomy, professional job satisfaction, and nurse-patient interaction. These relationships pointed to the impact of structural factor on professional factors and professional factors on the process of care, namely the nurse-patient interaction.

The findings were that positive perceptions of unit nursing structure had a direct positive effect on perceptions of nursing autonomy and indirectly affected perceptions of professional satisfaction when mediated by autonomy; positive perceptions of autonomy by the nurses had a direct positive effect on nurses' perceptions of professional job satisfaction; and finally, positive perceptions of professional job satisfaction had a direct positive effect on patient perceptions of the nurse-patient interaction.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: B, page: 3398.

Thesis (PH.D.)--MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA, 1992.

School code: 0305.