An evaluation of nurse's commitment and ownership within St. Luke's Hospital.

Abstract

Human resources are an asset for any organisation to be successful in today's' market. Nurses constitute a large proportion of health professionals in hospital organisations. Ensuring nurses are committed towards the organisation leads to less turnover as well as minimal supervision in aligning their performance with the organisation goals. This study aimed to identify present nurses' commitment levels within St. Luke's Hospital utilising an international validated questionnaire. It also measured any significant differences in commitment levels in relation to a number of personal characteristics such as gender, working unit, nursing experience and grade. This study also assessed nurses and nurse manager perceptions regarding factors which will increase their organisation loyalty. In the absence of a mission statement, this study tried to identify respondents' perceptions of what are the present goals of St. Luke's Hospital. A descriptive survey design was utilised to fulfill these objectives. The tools included 3 separate questionnaires; to identify commitment levels, factors which participants thought will increase their commitment and to assess nurses' perceptions regarding the present goals for St. Luke's Hospital. 130 nurses and 20 nurse managers were randomly selected from medical, surgical, paediatric, specialities and operating theatres. A 70 % response rate was obtained. Findings show that the majority of respondents are committed towards the present organisation, irrespective of their gender, grade and working unit. Factors related to job characteristics such as higher salary, and flexi time were recognised as very important enhancers of commitment. Good communication systems between same professionals as well as different professionals were also identified as enhancers of organisation loyalty. There was major agreement amongst nurses working in different units that the main goals of the organisation centre on the immediate recovery of patients from their present acute illness. One main recommendation of this study was the introduction of flexi time which will provide nurses and nurse managers with a work family balance. The study findings also recommend the introduction of performance appraisal systems as a means of increasing nurses' salaries. As regards nurses' education, the study proposed better scheduling of continued learning courses which match times of day when workload is minimal for nurses.