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Role transformation of special care unit nurses: a comparative study
Nursing Research
|May 1, 1980
Summary
Specialty care unit (SCU) nurses showed higher self-actualization but less professional role conception and empathy compared to other nurses. Higher specialization correlated with increased self-esteem and performance but also decreased professional role conception.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Healthcare Management
- Organizational Psychology
Background:
- New graduate nurses transition into complex healthcare roles, with varying levels of specialization.
- Understanding differences between nurses in specialty care units (SCUs) and general settings is crucial for role transformation.
- Previous research has explored nurse characteristics and role development, but specific comparisons for SCU nurses are limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare characteristics and role transformations of nurses in SCUs versus non-intensive care settings.
- To determine if SCU nurses exhibit different initial traits and developmental trajectories.
- To investigate the impact of unit specialization on nurse role conceptions, behaviors, and performance.
Main Methods:
- A posthoc descriptive study analyzed data from 213 new graduate nurses across eight US medical centers.
- Nurses were categorized by unit type: medical-surgical, medical-surgical specialty, parent-child, and SCU.
- Pretesting (6 weeks) and posttesting (9 months) assessed role conceptions, behaviors, self-esteem, self-actualization, empathy, and change-agent activity; performance and resignations were examined at 1 year.
Main Results:
- SCU nurses initially had higher self-actualization scores than medical-surgical nurses.
- Nurses in highly specialized units showed greater increases in bicultural role scores and self-esteem, with trends toward higher bureaucratic role conception and performance ratings.
- Conversely, SCU nurses experienced a decrease in professional role conception, minimal increase in self-actualization, and lower empathy and change-agent activity.
Conclusions:
- While high specialization may enhance certain aspects like self-esteem and performance, it can negatively impact professional role conception and interpersonal skills in nurses.
- SCU nurses may require targeted support to foster professional role development and essential interpersonal competencies.
- The findings suggest a trade-off between specialization-driven gains and potential deficits in broader professional identity and collaborative skills for nurses in highly specialized units.