[Attitude of nursing staff towards the nursing profession and work community]

This study discusses the attitudes of nurses and other nursing staff towards the nursing profession; their views on the community in which they carry out their daily work; and their opinions on how their job is being affected by ongoing efforts to develop the hospital organization. The study was carried out in two hospitals, where we selected for closer analysis the nursing staff of the inpatient wards (N = 153). The data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Methods of statistical description included percentage distributions, means and standard deviations, and cross tabulation. Content analysis was used in the case of the open-ended answers. The majority of the nursing staff described the general atmosphere of their work community as open. It was also widely agreed that cooperation among different occupational groups on the ward was good or fairly good. Both of these factors were considered essential in view of the common objective of improving nursing quality. All occupational groups had a high regard for their profession. Similarly, most of the respondents believed that with the general development of nursing they would be able to further develop their own professional competence. About half of nursing staff took a positive attitude towards the ongoing campaign to develop the hospital work organization; they were described as justified and meaningful. This campaign implied, for example, a stronger patient-orientation and an improved quality of nursing. Most of the respondents felt they had good opportunities to influence decision-making in matters related to their own daily job. However, there were also critical voices saying that most innovations are in practice implemented by hospital management.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)