Greek hospital environments

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Assessing the quality of the nursing practice environment is crucial for staff retention and patient care.
• Previous studies have highlighted variations in work environments across different hospital settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate nurse satisfaction with working environments in Greek public hospitals using the Practice Environment Scale (PES).
• To compare nurse perceptions between surgical and medical departments.
• To investigate the influence of education and experience on these perceptions.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study involving 532 nurses from five Greek public hospitals.
• Data collected using the Practice Environment Scale (PES).
• Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, and Spearman correlations.

Main Results:

• Nurses perceived their work settings as unfavorable overall, with positive nurse-physician relations being an exception.
• Surgical departments were perceived slightly more positively than medical wards.
• Nurse perceptions were influenced by education and experience, particularly regarding management support, care quality, and staffing levels.

Conclusions:

• Greek hospital managers offer insufficient support to nurses.
• Addressing issues like nursing shortages and improving nurse involvement is essential for enhancing practice environments.