Analysis of the work environment and intention of perioperative nurses to quit work

OBJECTIVE: to investigate how the perioperative work environment affects work dissatisfaction, professional exhaustion and the perception of the quality of care about the intention of abandoning the work of perioperative nurses. METHOD: cross-sectional study with 130 nurses working in the surgical area of a high-tech Spanish public university hospital. The scale of the nursing practice environment, Maslach’s exhaustion inventory, the questions about job satisfaction, the perception of the care quality and intention to abandon work to collect data were used. Descriptive, inferential and logistic regression statistics were made. RESULTS: in general, 20% of perioperative nurses would want to quit their work. The dimension of the work environment of staff and resources, dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion in nurses were factors that indicated the intention of perioperative nurses to abandon work. CONCLUSION: the implementation of strategies for the retention of perioperative nurses should be considered, improving the factors that indicate how the work environment, especially the allocation of personnel and resources, dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Creating positive work environments based on magnetic values can be a key strategy.