The Impact of the Working Hours Among Malaysian Nurses on Their Ill-Being, Intention to Leave, and the Perceived Quality of Care: A Cross-Sectional Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE: This study explores the effect of working duration on nurses and their ill-being (ie, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleepiness), intention to leave, and the quality of nursing care. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was employed for a convenience sample of 400 nurses at Malacca General Hospital in Malaysia who voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to treat and analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were generated, and Post Hoc analyses and ANOVA tests were conducted. RESULTS: Findings indicated that working hours duration was significantly associated with nurses’ anxiety (F (4, 394) = 10.362, p <0.001), depression (F (4, 395) = 23.041, p< 0.001), fatigue (F (4, 395) = 24.232, p< 0.001), sleepiness (F (4, 395) = 4.324, p < 0.002), quality of nursing care (F (4, 395) = 16.21, p <0.001) and intention leave their job, (F (4, 395) = 50.29, p <0.001). The results also revealed that working more than 14 hours was negatively associated with their perceived quality of nursing care and positively associated with their perceived ill-being and intention to leave. CONCLUSION: Shift length is an important issue, and nursing managers must consider shift length as it can adversely correlate with the nurses’ perceptions of work and life.