Politics of Organizational Restructuring in Health Care and Work Ability of Nurses’

Abstract

Nurses are the largest employee group in health care but continue to lack presence in organizational restructuring processes. This study examines whether nurses’ opportunities to be involved in organizational restructuring are associated with their work ability. Respondents of a survey were asked to identify the organizational changes that had transpired at their workplaces in the previous two years, and to evaluate their opportunities to be involved in these changes. They were also asked to evaluate their work ability and to assess certain statements related to their individual resources and the characteristics of their work at the time of the survey. The study shows that exclusion of nurses from health care restructuring processes may cause feelings of injustice and lower commitment to work and thus decrease work ability. Nurses who evaluated their opportunities to be involved in the restructuring as poor were at a two-fold risk of decreased work ability in comparison to nurses who stated that their opportunities to be involved were good. We conclude that the nursing profession should collectively aim to enhance individual nurse's opportunities to take part in the planning and implementation of organizational restructuring in health care. Poor opportunities to be involved in restructuring processes may result in costs not only to individual nurses but also to society at large as successful public health outcomes of health care restructuring are dependent on nurses’ work ability and performance.