Correlations between performance and shift work in the nursing activities: a pilot approach

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK. Performance assessment is a key administrative function and an essential component of organizational quality programs, by quantifying it in relation to set goals, standards, expectations and guides to improvement initiatives. The present study aimed to assess any differences existing in nursing performance levels perceived according to shift work. METHODS. An on-line questionnaire was administered from June to August 2021 through nursing groups present on the Facebook and Instagram pages to all Italian nurses who voluntary agreed to participate. The questionnaire collected both socio-demographic information and nursing performance evaluations, assessed thanks to the “Six-Dimension scale of nursing performance”, such as: leadership, critical care, teaching/collaboration, planning/evaluation, interpersonal relations/communications and personal development. RESULTS. 305 nurses were recruited in this research. By considering nursing performance according to shift work, significant differences were recorded in the “critical care frequency” sub dimension (p=.001), in the “interpersonal relations” sub dimension (p=.018) and the frequency dimension of the six-dimension scale of nursing performance (p=.018). Meanwhile, as regards the quality sub dimension in the six-dimension scale of nursing performance, none significant differences were reported according to shift variable. CONCLUSIONS. Professional commitment and performance in nursing appeared to be influenced by several organizational factors. Therefore, further studies in this field will be desire with the inclusion of a wide variety of variables, too. (www.actabiomedica.it)