Improving Work Conditions for Nurses: 3 Best Practices

Work conditions for nurses consist of a mix of physical and social factors that form an underlying experience of either wellness or frustration on the job. Conditions vary from one organization to another, and have a significant impact on whether a nurse stays with a facility or moves on. Improving your nursing staff’s experience on the job may make the difference between retaining valuable, experienced nurses or contending with the constant churn of turnover.

The cost of nurse turnover is high and hurts not only your organization’s financial bottom line, but also team morale and performance. It’s estimated that the average hospital loses between $3.9 million and $5.7 million annually to nurse turnover. High turnover rates are linked to incivility on teams, communication breakdowns, and a declining quality of patient care.

This guide provides three strategies for improving working conditions for your nursing staff. Focusing on these best practices will help you address unit-specific as well as systemic challenges, so that you can keep your team happy. Though some problems don’t have quick fixes, it’s important to take action nonetheless. Ignoring these issues will propagate them, while even small steps can create positive change for your organization.

What Are the Working Conditions for a Nurse?

Work conditions is a term for the environment and circumstances in which an employee performs their job. For nurses, this entails all elements (tangible and intangible) that are encountered in the course of the fulfillment of job duties, including:

• Workload
• Staffing
• Schedule
• Risk of exposure to hazardous materials
• Risk of exposure to infectious diseases
• Risk for injury
• Quality of interprofessional relationships
• Emotional demands

Combined, these factors create the underlying conditions that affect nurses health, job satisfaction, and job performance.

Work Conditions for a Nurse: What’s Expected?

Nurses take on high levels of accountability and liability when practicing, extending beyond the bounds of the organization they work for. It’s widely accepted that nurses have an obligation to society. More specifically, nurses’ responsibilities are mandated by the state nursing board that issued their license.

Healthcare employers are responsible for creating and maintaining working conditions that allow nurses to fulfill their professional responsibilities. In broad terms, nurses expect employers to support their efforts to meet legal and ethical obligations.

Example: Supporting Nurses’ Rights in the Workplace

For example, nurses at long-term care facilities are responsible for preventing skin breakdown in elderly and immobile patients, requiring them to move and reposition these patients routinely. This service involves the risk of a back or musculoskeletal injury if the proper resources are not in place. The nurses’ right to a safe work environment, therefore, requires employers to source and maintain assistive devices such as mechanical lifts.

Common Problems With Work Conditions for Nurses

There are many repeating, common problems that nurses face at work, as evidenced by industry-wide high turnover rates. Many of these issues are deeply rooted within organizations or the healthcare system as a whole, requiring more than surface-level fixes to repair.

The Importance of a Healthy Work Environment in Nursing

Fostering a positive work environment for nurses is a crucial aspect of leadership. Under optimized conditions, nurses can best fulfill their duties to patients and experience greater job satisfaction, which translates to better patient outcomes.

3 Best Practices for Improving Nurse Working Conditions

Here are three strategies for improving the working conditions at your facility. Whether you’re a leader in a hospital setting, clinic, homecare agency, or nursing home, you can use this guidance to make positive changes that benefit your staff.

1. Measure and Monitor

Select a group of key metrics to monitor over time. This will give you objective information about the work conditions for nurses on your staff, and help you track your progress as you make improvements. Here are some metrics to consider tracking:

• Nursing staff turnover rates
• Nurse retention rates
• Rehire rate (also called boomerangs; nurses who left the organization and then returned)
• Staff satisfaction scores
• Workplace violence incident rates
• Absenteeism rates
• Hospital acquired infection (HAI) rates
• Patient falls rates

2. Apply General Nurse Rights to Your Specific Work Environment

Develop your understanding of nurses’ workplace rights through reading, research, and collaboration with other nursing leaders. With a deep understanding of these rights, you can best help your staff fulfill their professional obligations.

Nurses’ rights will apply to your setting in a unique way. It’s important to consider the specific hazards inherent in the services you provide. For example, an inpatient SICU manager may support nurses’ right to a safe workplace by ensuring all sharps containers are emptied at regular intervals. The leader of a homecare agency may recognize this same right by empowering nurses to leave a patient’s home if the situation feels threatening.

3. Integrate Input from Nursing Staff Into Policies and Procedures

Your nursing staff’s working conditions are influenced by your facility’s policies and procedures. By giving nurses a voice in the decisions that will affect their practice, you can ensure that policies are shaped in a way that supports nurses. This can be accomplished through shared governance, a leadership model that involves staff nurses in system-wide policy decisions.

Get More Tips for Optimizing Care Delivery

By improving work conditions for nurses on your staff, you’re also helping patients get the high-quality care they deserve. Looking for more insights? Our healthcare leadership guides and resources deliver the streamlined info you need to best support your nursing team and the community you serve.