Job performance among nurses working in two different health care levels, Eastern Saudi Arabia: a comparative study

Abstract

Background: Nursing job performance reflects the quality of delivered care and consequently patient outcomes, poor job performance is considered a risk factor for patient safety. Aims & Objective: To assess the level of self-reported job performance among nurses working in primary and secondary care and to determine the variables predicting performance among different levels of care. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted; using a self-administered questionnaire based on the Schwirian Six Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance. Data were collected from a convenient sample with a total number of 637 nurses, (144 from primary health care centers and 493 from secondary care level hospital). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and Logistic regression analysis were used for analysis of the data. Results: Almost half of the studied nurses perceived their performance as good with comparable results among primary and secondary level of care. Nurses working in primary care level rated better at some performance subscales such as teaching, communication, planning and personal development, whereas nurses working in secondary care level were advanced in leadership and critical care ratings. Variables that had significant predictive effect of performance of secondary health care level nurses were stress, shifts and department of work. Conclusion: Job stress and work shifts were found to be negatively correlated with performance that indicates the importance of implementing effective strategies to assess and manage stress and re-examining work conditions such as Work shifts to ensure more suitable work situation.