The relationship between work complexity and nurses' participation in decision making in hospitals

Area of Science:

• Nursing Administration
• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Nurse participation in decision-making is a strategy to manage complex work.
• However, acute care nursing work has become increasingly complex.
• Existing strategies for managing this complexity require further exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between work complexity and nurses' participation in decision-making.
• To investigate how increasing work complexity impacts nurse involvement in hospital nursing units.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration project.
• Analysis of data from 3,718 Registered Nurses (RNs) across 278 medical-surgical units in 143 hospitals.

Main Results:

• A significant inverse relationship was observed: as work complexity increased, nurses' participation in decision-making decreased.
• This finding highlights a potential gap in information sharing within care teams.

Conclusions:

• Limited nurse input in decision-making may lead to incomplete information for the healthcare team.
• Further research is needed to identify barriers to nurse participation.
• Developing interventions to promote full nurse participation is essential for optimizing patient care and the work environment.