Commuting patterns among Italian nurses: a cross-sectional study

Commuting is an additional burden that affects working stress, reduces leisure time and raises the risk of accidents. Little data are available about nurses' commuting patterns or the impact of commuting on their lives.

The study aims to describe commuting patterns among Italian nurses and to explore possible associations with nurses' intention to change job.

This is a cross-sectional study carried out in central Italy. Nurses were invited to participate through a variety of public measures. Those participating completed an online questionnaire available on a website established for this specific purpose.

Five hundred sixty-five nurses participated. The mean distance covered every day to go to work and back home is 30.8 km. A total of 43.3% of nurses cover 25 km or more every day to work; 5.7% cover 100 km or more. The mean time spent in commuting is 52.9 min daily. Furthermore, 14.5% of nurses spend every month commuting a time equal to or longer than the working time of 1 week. The mean monthly expenditure is 87.30 Euro (6% of mean salary). Nurses younger than 30 cover longer distances (P=0.0006), spend more time (P=0.001) and have higher expenditure (P=0.003) than their older colleagues. Willingness to change job seems associated with the use of public means of transportation (P=0.04). Nurses from the population under study cover longer distances, spend longer time in daily commuting and have higher monthly costs than the rest of the Italian workers' population.

Travelling to work represents a non-negligible burden for nurses, particularly for younger nurses. Nurses seem to have lesser opportunities to rest and to recover energies than other workers. The Italian nurses' recruiting system may have a role in explaining our data. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact of nurses' commuting on the healthcare system.