Practice Environment and Work Engagement of Staff Nurses in a Specialized Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Creating a practice environment that completely engages nurses in their practice is a major concern in the nursing profession (Sayed, Ahmed, Bakr & Sherief, 2019). It has become a worldwide issue since there is still a nursing shortage around the globe (Almuhsen et al., 2017). This study aimed to determine the relationship of Practice Environment and Work Engagement of Staff Nurses in a Specialized Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study is a quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive correlational research design. Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES NWI) (Lake, 2002) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) were utilized in this study to measure practice environment and work engagement of staff nurses in a Specialized Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher approached each head nurse of the nine inpatient units and asked for the number of eligible staff in their unit. The sample size was obtained through total enumeration sampling. As per inclusion and exclusion criteria, 282 staff nurses were eligible for this study, which each inpatient ward and unit head nurse verified. Eligible staff nurses include nurses I and II working in inpatient departments for over three months, except for cross-trainees from Ambulatory Care services (OPD and CIU). Nurses in administrative and management positions and nurse assistants were excluded from this study.This study showed that staff nurses have a high perception of their practice environment (3.93 ±SD .507) and average level of work engagement (4.2 ± .910). In addition, it proved that there is a positive significant relationship between Practice Environment and Work Engagement of Staff Nurses in a Specialized Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there is a positive significant correlation between Work Engagement and Demographic Characteristics in terms of age, educational attainment, and years in the current unit. Nurse administrators, managers and leaders hold a vital role in the practice environment and work engagement in reviewing practices, policies, and procedures.