Nurses' work environment, job satisfaction, and intention to leave - a cross-sectional study in Czech hospitals

Aim: The study aimed to determine how Czech nurses perceive individual aspects of their work environment, and examined the differences in perceptions of their work environment related to type of hospital, hospital departments, and individual demographic characteristics. The study included analysis of the relationships between nurses’ work environment and: intention to leave, satisfaction with current work position, the role of nurse, and work intensity. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Methods: The sample involved 371 nurses working in the internal medicine and surgical departments of four hospitals in the Olomouc region. The Czech version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the Pearson chi-squared test, the MannWhitney test, and Spearman’s correlations. Results: Nurses from university hospitals evaluated their work environment significantly more highly than nurses in regional non-university hospitals. No significant difference between internal medicine and surgical hospital wards was confirmed. Weak to moderate positive correlations were revealed between nurses’ work environment and: satisfaction with the role of nurse, satisfaction with current work position, and satisfaction with team collaboration. Nurses who considered leaving their current job or work position evaluated their work environment significantly more negatively than nurses who did not intend to leave their job. Conclusion: The attributes of nurses’ work environment are related to nurses’ satisfaction at work and their intention of staying in their workplace. Variables of hospitals greatly improved overall assessment of the work environment.