Pauline Stanton

Factors affecting the job stress and job satisfaction of Australian nurses: implications for recruitment and retention

Abstract Against a background of nurse shortages in Australian hospitals, a significant challenge facing the healthcare sector is the recruitment and retention of nurses. The job stress and job satisfaction of nurses have been associated with recruitment and retention. The aim of this study is to consider two factors that may contribute to the job satisfaction and job stress of nurses: social support and empowerment. Using a sample of 157 registered nurses in a private hospital in Melbourne, Australia, we found that social support derived from the nurse’s supervisor and work colleagues lowered job stress and at the same time increased job satisfaction. The presence of nurse empowerment, meaning, impact, competence and self-determination, also lowered job stress and increased job satisfaction. Finally, we discuss contributions of this study and implications for recruitment and retention of nurses in the health sector.

Consumer consultants in mental health services: addressing the challenges

Background: Consumer consultants are people who have suffered from a mental illness requiring treatment in a public facility, and who are employed in public mental health services to put forward a consumer perspective. Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the experience of consumer consultants in the Victorian public mental health program. Method: The paper traces the development of the consumer consultant program in Victoria, Australia and examines the literature on barriers to consumer participation in mental health services. The paper then outlines a qualitative study of the experiences of consumer consultants, focussing on their perceived areas of influence, areas of difficulty and their suggestions for improvement. Results: Organizational influences that affect the work of the consumer consultants are discussed and two ideal types of services outlined. Service red has institutional barriers that hinder the work of consumer consultants, whereas service green has institutional features that facilitate their work. Conclusions: Consumer consultants have made real gains in providing effective representation of the consumer perspective, resulting in service improvement, but the results have been uneven, and many significant barriers persist. Declaration of interest: The first and third author work in public mental health services. This study was carried out in part fulfilment of a Master of Social Work.

Exploring the lack of progress in improving patient safety in Australian hospitals.

Objectives This study aimed to build on the increasing evidence of a link between good people management practice, and organizational and patient outcomes in public health care to document the important human resource management practices in our hospitals. Methods The design included large scale survey of hospital managers perceptions of the use of human resource management practices. The questionnaire included Human resource management (HRM) measures and additional questions related to the Australian hospital accreditation standards. Data were collected in December 2003 until April 2004 from a total sample of 92 hospitals/hospital organizations from the State of Victoria, Australia. The participants were Chief Executive Officers, Human Resource Directors and two other senior managers of the hospital organizations were invited to complete the questionnaire. There were no interventions. The main outcome measure, one-way analysis of variance was used to determine differences in the perceptions of the three groups of managers concerning the use of HRM practices. Frequency and descriptive statistics were used to determine use of HRM practices. Results A 67% response rate enabled us to document human resource management practices in Victorian hospitals. The respondents reported limited strategic and organizational HRM. Conclusion This study found limited evidence of sophisticated HRM practices among hospitals and hospital organizations in the State of Victoria, Australia. Despite the increasing evidence of a relationship among effective HRM and health-care outcomes, these hospitals reported limited performance management, training and development, and employee empowerment and decision-making. The authors suggest that it is unlikely that attempts to improve patient safety in this sector will be successful until the deficits in HRM are addressed.

People Management Practices in the Public Health Sector: Developments from Victoria, Australia.

This study investigates the impact on human resource management (HRM) practices in the public health sector in Victoria, Australia of two different government policy environments. First, it explores the Liberal Coalition Governments decentralisation of public health sector management, from 1992‐1999 and second, the Labor Governments recentralisation of employment relations in the sector. This paper focuses on three dimensions. First, it outlines the main policy directions impacting on people management in the health care sector under the different governments. Second, it explores the impact of these policy directions on HRM. Third, it discusses the implications for future directions of the practice of HRM in the public hospital sector.

Developing a Strategic Approach to People Management in Healthcare

Over the past twenty years there has been an international focus by governments on achieving efficient and effective health services through health sector reform. Yet until recently little attention has been given to people management approaches in healthcare (Saltman, Figueras and Sakellarides, 1998), or the impact of government policies and environmental change on the management of the workforce at the organizational level (Bach, 2003). This lack of focus on people management is surprising considering that the industry is labour intensive, highly educated and accounts for a large proportion of total costs. Instead the health labour force has been seen as a target for cost savings and government policies have often focused on costs and efficiency (Thornley, 1998) rather than innovation and human capability building (Bach, 2000; Stanton, 2002a).