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Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree Disciplines:
- Education
Notes
- Abstract:
- Purpose. Responsibility and accountability without power leads to frustration, dissatisfaction, poor motivation to support the organizational goals and a sense of disempowerment. Nurses are leaving bedside care because of this perceived lack of empowerment. Creating an empowered nursing workforce is imperative to retaining bedside nurses. As human resource professionals working in acute care organizations develop a deeper understanding of bedside nurses’ perceptions of power, they may be in a better position to take effective actions to address nurses’ feelings of hopelessness and frustration, as well as keep the bedside nurse in the organization. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore in-depth staff nurses’ perceptions of empowerment in the organization in which they work. Two research questions guided this effort. First, how do staff nurses perceive power in the acute care setting? Second, how do staff nurses perceive their role in decision-making activities in the acute care setting? Method. Qualitative design, specifically a phenomenological approach, was chosen for this study. The primary method for data collection was individual face-to-face interviews, supplemented with organizational document review. Ten nurses were purposefully chosen based upon pre-determined criteria to participate in this study. First, half of the nurses must have been employed on medical surgical units and the other half on intensive care units. Second, participants must have been employed on their specialty unit for at least three years. Data were analyzed through phenomenological processes including epoche, phenomenological reduction and imaginative variation. Common themes were identified and reported in the narrative format. Major Findings. Creating a more empowering environment is of considerable importance to human resource professionals whose goal is to retain bedside nurses. Workplace empowerment can be achieved by increasing employees’ feelings of self-efficacy and removing barriers inhibiting their access to empowering structures. The findings indicated that motivating nurses to participate in decision-making forums could lead to feelings of self-efficacy. Recommendations for practitioners include finding means to motivate staff nurses to participate in these forums. Taking steps to motivate staff nurse participation in decision-making activities will enhance perceptions of power and empowerment. Decreasing nurse turnover and dissociation with organizational goals can be achieved by increasing perceptions of power in the acute care organization.
- Thesis:
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Barry University, 2006.
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-122).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Barry University
- Holding Location:
- Barry University Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- Copyright Kimberly Guthrie. Permission granted to Barry University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
- Resource Identifier:
- RT42.E53 2006_GuthrieKimberly ( BU-Local )
- Classification:
- RT42.E53 2006 ( lcc )
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