Examining resilience, moral sensitivity, and work engagement among Chinese anesthesia nurses

Facing rising global surgical volumes and healthcare workforce shortages, task shifting in anesthesia care has been widely implemented, including in China where a specialized anesthesia nursing workforce has rapidly expanded to approximately 60,000. However, this workforce confronts unique challenges including historical professional restrictions and the absence of standardized specialized education, making their work engagement a critical yet underexplored issue.

The purpose of this study is to explore whether and how resilience may relate to work engagement among Chinese anesthesia nurses, with a particular focus on the potential mediating association of moral sensitivity in this relationship.

This study is a cross-sectional study.

A total of 372 Chinese anesthesia nurses from 41 hospitals were surveyed using an online questionnaire that included nurses' sociodemographic characteristics, resilience, moral sensitivity, and work engagement. The mediating effect was analyzed using Model 4 of the PROCESS macro for SPSS 27.0.

The total score of work engagement among Chinese anesthesia nurses was 31.25 ± 7.75. The results showed positive correlations between resilience, moral sensitivity, and work engagement (all p < 0.01). The indirect effect of resilience on work engagement through moral sensitivity was statistically significant (effect = 0.338), accounting for 53.7% of the total effect.

Chinese anesthesia nurses present a relatively lower level of work engagement compared to previous reports in similar nursing populations. The results are statistically consistent with a mediating association in which moral sensitivity links resilience to work engagement among Chinese anesthesia nurses.