Nurse work environment: comparison between private and public hospitals

OBJECTIVE: To compare the characteristics of the work environment that enable the professional practice of nurses in private and public organizations. METHODS: A quantitative, exploratory, cross-section study, carried out in four health organizations - one public and three private, with 188 registered nurses. Participants answered the Brazilian version of the Nursing Work Index − Revised, which aims to evaluate the presence of characteristics that favor the development of nursing activities through 15 items distributed into three subscales: autonomy, control over the practice setting and relationships with physicians. The measurement scale used is Likert, and lower scores represent better evaluation of the environment, i.e. , more favorable characteristics are present to assist the development of nursing activities. RESULTS: The means of the responses of participants of private hospitals were smaller in all subscales of the instrument, as compared to those from public hospitals. CONCLUSION: The environment of private hospitals showed more favorable characteristics to the professional practice of registered nurses than the public hospital environment.