Massachusetts Nurses Association Prepared by Opinion Dynamics Corporation June 2003 The State of Nursing: 2003
Dec 25, 2015
Massachusetts Nurses Association
Prepared by
Opinion Dynamics Corporation
June 2003
The State of Nursing: 2003
Which of the following best describes your current work situation?
Q1
Provide direct patient care outside a hospital setting
Staff nurse providing direct patient care at a teaching hospital
Staff nurse providing direct patient care at a community hospital
Work in health care outside the direct patient care area
I am not currently working but might return to some job at some point
Work at a teaching hospital but do not provide acute care
Work at a community hospital but do not provide direct patient care
Employed, but do not work in the health care area at all
Q8
What is the most rewarding or positive thing about your current job?
For the patients/Rewarding to help/Care 73%
Staff contact/Team attitude 7
Job/Schedule flexibility 7
Pay 4
Teaching staff/Mentoring 4
Independence/Autonomy 3
Nothing -
Other 4
(Not sure) 2
(Refused) 1
Q9
What is the biggest problem or negative thing you face in doing your
job? Staffing/Short staffing/Shortages 31%
Paperwork/Reimbursement/Insurance 12
Management – lack of respect/support 11
Politics/Staff conflict – peers, physicians 9
Time/Not enough time 7
Workload 6
Bad scheduling/Long hours/Mandatory overtime 5
Pay/Benefits 4
Cutbacks/Financial resources 4
Stress/Too much responsibility 3
Nothing 3
Other 5
(Not sure) 5
Do feel that the amount of paperwork you do on an average shift:
Q10
Not sure
Is a burden but probably can't be reduced safely
Is not really that much of a burden
Is unnecessarily burdensome and could be reduced
No5%
Yes95%
Q11
At any time in your nursing career have you been employed as a staff
nurse providing direct patient care in a hospital setting?
Q12
What is the reason that you decided to stop practicing direct patient care in a
hospital setting? Short staffed/Too many patients 21%
Better career opportunity/Promotion 20
The long hours/Bad schedule/Mandatory overtime 19
Personal reasons – raise family, home life 12
Wanted different atmosphere/setting 10
Injury/Age/Health reasons 8
Stress level/Burnout 6
Money/Benefits 5
Other 3
(Not sure) 1
(Refused) 2
Q13
What is the reason why you never decided to practice direct patient care
in a hospital setting?
Prefer long term care 31%
Working conditions 23
Not enough experience 15
Other 23
(Not sure) 8
Q20,15,17,19,22,21
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
66%
70%
75%
75%
87%
93%
Stronlgy/Somewhat agree
RNs are burned out with high patient loads.
Registered nurses working in hospital units have to care for
too many patients. Managers schedule too few
nurses per shift.
Legal liabilities in case of error are too risky.
Hospital managers float registered nurses without appropriate training and
orientation. Hospital finances are not properly being spent on
patient care.
Q18,16,23,24,14
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
54%
58%
60%
62%
65%
Stronlgy/Somewhat agree
Working conditions in hospitals are brutal to
nurses.
Dealing with sick people wears you out after awhile.
Hospital managers assign mandatory overtime instead
of staffing properly. Hospital managers assign
traditional nursing duties to non-nurses instead of hiring
registered nurses. An RN can make more money
in areas other than in acute care.
Q36,32,30,31,39,33
Rate the seriousness of the following problems facing the nursing profession as they relate to
providing health care to patients. Use a scale of "1" meaning "not a problem at all“, to "7"
meaning "a very serious problem".
4.50
4.56
4.68
4.82
5.41
5.77
Mean
Fewer young people are choosing nursing as a career.
The acute care units are understaffed and nurses working
in acute care are forced to care for too many patients.
Registered nurses are too often floated from one unit to another without appropriate training and
orientation. RNs are forced to work mandatory
overtime.
Liability and malpractice lawsuits.
Low pay.
Q38,35,37,40,34
Rate the seriousness of the following problems facing the nursing profession as they relate to
providing health care to patients. Use a scale of "1" meaning "not a problem at all“, to "7"
meaning "a very serious problem".
2.91
3.70
3.83
4.24
4.25
Mean
Managers assign traditional nursing duties to non-nurses instead of
hiring registered nurses.
Managers rarely implement recommendations made by staff
nurses regarding patient care.
Physicians are disrespectful of registered nurses.
Board of Registration does not take an active role in protecting the
public's health.
Workplace violence.
Q41
Which one of the above problems do you think is the most serious problem facing the nursing
profession today?
3%
5%
7%
7%
18%
50%
Fewer young people are choosing nursing as a career.
The acute care units are understaffed and nurses working
in acute care are forced to care for too many patients.
Registered nurses are too often floated from one unit to another without appropriate training and
orientation.
RNs are forced to work mandatory overtime.
Liability and malpractice lawsuits.
Low pay.
Strongly favor70%
Somewhat favor16%
Not sure5%
Somewhat oppose
4%
Strongly oppose5%
Q42
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a bill that would require hospitals to adequately staff acute care facilities and limit the number of patients an RN would need to care for at one time by setting minimum registered nurse-to-patient ratios. Would you favor or oppose the
Legislature passing such a bill?
86%Favor
Much more likely to consider
42%
Somewhat more likely to consider
23%Wouldn't make a difference
32%
Not sure3%
Q43
(Non acute care nurses): Let's say this safe staffing law was passed by the Legislature and
registered nurses were required to care for fewer patients at once - for example, a 1:2 ratio was the standard in an ICU and 1:4 in Med/Surg. Would you consider taking a job as a staff nurse providing direct patient care in a hospital if such
a law were passed to regulate RN-to-patient ratios?
Q44
What other factor(s) would encourage you to practice direct patient care?
Better hours/Scheduling/No mandatory OT 21%
Better pay/Benefits 21
Retraining back to the workforce 19
Refresher courses 19
More staff/Better patient-nurse ratio 14
If management listened 5
Age/Health 3
Nothing 2
Other 7
(Not sure) 13
(Refused) 2
Q50,51,52,53,45
64%
67%
81%
86%
88%
Yes
Nurses not having enough time to comfort and assist patients
and their families
Nurses not having enough time to educate patients and their
families Patients having to wait for long
periods of time for their medication and medical
procedures The frequency of medical errors, such as improper medication or dosages
Complications or other problems for a patient
Are you aware of any incidents in Massachusetts hospitals that a registered
nurse having to care for too many patients has led to...
Q48,47,46,49
29%
50%
52%
54%
Yes
Re-admission of a patient
Injury or harm to patients
Longer hospital stays
Mortality for patients
Are you aware of any incidents in Massachusetts hospitals that a registered
nurse having to care for too many patients has led to...
7%
24%
69%
Q28
Which of these statements about health care coverage is closer to your
opinion:
Not sure
It is the responsibility of the
government to ensure that every
citizen has access to health care
It is NOT the responsibility of
the government to ensure that every citizen has access
to healthcare
6%
71%
23%
Q29
And which of these is closer to your opinion:
Not sure
The health care system in
Massachusetts has real problems and is in need of a major
overhaul
The health care system in Massachusetts could use some minor changes, but overall it is in pretty good
shape
Q25
Let's talk briefly about health care more generally. Please rate the quality of
health care that you think most hospitals in Massachusetts deliver to patients. Is it:
Q26
Do you think the overall quality of health care in Massachusetts hospitals has
gotten better, worse or stayed the same in the past 5 years?