Titulo |
Crisis in the health sector: Impact on nurses´ working conditions |
Autoría |
Granero-Lázaro A, Blanch-Ribas JM, Roldán-Merino JF, Torralbas-Ortega J, Escayola-Maranges AM. |
Fuente |
Enferm Clin. 2017 May - Jun;27(3):163-171. doi: 10.1016/j.enfcli.2017.03.005. Epub 2017 Apr 10. English, Spanish. |
Resumen |
In a context of economic crisis and policies to reduce the public deficit, the budgets of the Catalan Health Institute (CHI) were cut by 15.33% between 2010 and 2014.
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the perceived impact on nurses' work conditions of measures to contain health spending.
METHOD:
The study design was descriptive and transversal. A sample of 1,760 nurses from the province of Barcelona answered a questionnaire on the perceived impact of health spending containment measures implemented in their workplace during the early years of the crisis.
RESULTS:
Among the main aspects of the perceived impact of these measures, 86.6% of the nurses identified a pay cut and an increase in the following relevant parameters of their working conditions: number of hours worked (66.7%), final ratio of treated patients (35.2%), task complexity and workload (75.3%), rotation through various departments (31.5%), work shifts (21.4%) or work areas (23.4%), job insecurity (58.4%) and loss of employment by dismissal (6.6%) or non-renewal of contract (9%).
CONCLUSIONS:
The perceived impact of the crisis showed a triple negative component: Pay cut, work overload and job insecurity. As a combined effect of this multiple trend, the nurses acknowledged a deterioration in their working conditions and quality of working life. |
URL |
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28408097 |