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- Björn, Catrine, 1961-
(författare)
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Attractive Work : Nurses´ work in operating departments, and factors that make it attractive
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Previous studies show that nurse retention is one of the most effective strategies to counteract nursing shortages. Few studies have focused on the crucial resource of registered specialist nurses in operating departments.Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to gain knowledge on registered specialist nurses’ and assistant nurses’ work in operating departments and on what factors they consider to be important for attractive work. Methods: In Study I, operating room nurses were interviewed regarding their perspective on their work. In Studies II and III, specialist registered nurses and assistant nurses at operating departments in a Swedish county council responded to the Attractive Work Questionnaire. Study IV is a case study with interviews, a review of organisational goal documents and data concerning the number of planned, acute and cancelled operations.Findings: The adaption of the Attractive Work Questionnaire for nurses in operating departments was satisfying. The most important factors for attractive work were: Relationship, Leadership and Status. The factors with the largest discrepancies between their important to work attractiveness and their rating at the nurses’ current work were: Salary, Organisation and Physical Work Environment. It was important for nurses to be able to prepare for and be in control of the different work tasks. However, the daily operating schedule guided the nurses’ work, and changes in the schedule, nurse shortages and the design of the premises constituted obstacles to their work.Conclusion: The Attractive Work Questionnaire provided specific information to management on what to focus on to make work attractive. The majority of the identified attractive factors are already known to be of importance in nurse retention; however, factors requiring more investigation are Equipment, Physical Work Environment and Location (of the workplace). Their work prerequisites did not enable the specialist and assistant nurses to reach what they saw as their daily goals. Regularly occurring activities, such as acute and cancelled operations, were interpreted as obstacles to reaching daily goals.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsson, Kristina, 1947-
(författare)
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Entrepreneurs and Small-Scale Enterprises : Self Reported Health, Work Conditions, Work Environment Management and Occupational Health Services
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis focused on factors contributing to improved work environment in small-scale enterprises and sustainable health for the entrepreneurs. In Study I, implementation of the provision of Systematic Work Environment Management (SWEM) with and without support was investigated. Two implementation methods were used, supervised and network method. The effect of the project reached the employees faster in the enterprises with the supervised method. In general, the work environment improved in all enterprises. However, extensive support to small-scale enterprises in terms of advice and networking aimed at fulfilling SWEM regulations had limited effect – especially considering the cost of applying these methods. Studies II, III, and IV focused on entrepreneurs’ health, work conditions, strategies for maintaining good health, and utilisation of Occupational Health Service (OHS). A closed cohort of entrepreneurs in ten different trades responded to two self-administered questionnaires on health and work conditions, with five years between the surveys: at baseline, 496 entrepreneurs responded, and 251 entrepreneurs responded at follow-up. Differences were tested by Chi2-test, and associations estimated with logistic regression analyses. Qualitative interviews on entrepreneurs’ strategies for maintaining good health were included. In Study II, the most frequently reported complaints, musculoskeletal pain and mental health problems, were associated with poor job satisfaction and poor physical work environment. In Study III, consistent self-reported good health, i.e. good health both at baseline and at follow up, was associated with self-valued good social life when adjusted for physical work conditions and job satisfaction. Entrepreneurs’ strategies for maintaining good health included good planning and control over work, flexibility at work, good social contact with family, friends and other entrepreneurs, and regular physical exercise. Study IV concerned entrepreneur’s utilisation of OHS. Entrepreneurs affiliated to OHS had either better or more adverse work conditions than non-affiliated entrepreneurs. Medical care and health check-ups were the services most utilised. Affiliation to OHS correlated with use of specific information sources and active work environment management. The entrepreneurs were not consistently affiliated to OHS over the five-year-period.
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| 3. |
- Zetterberg, Camilla, 1970-
(författare)
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The impact of visually demanding near work on neck/shoulder discomfort and trapezius muscle activity : Laboratory studies
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction: Musculoskeletal discomfort in the neck and shoulders is common among workers performing visually demanding near work, e.g., on a computer screen, and sustained low-level muscle activity during such work can lead to work-related pain. The relationships between visual demands and muscle activity and discomfort in the neck/shoulder region are at present unclear. Aim: The aims of this thesis were to determine whether neck/shoulder discomfort and trapezius muscle activity increases during visually demanding experimental near work, and to investigate whether eye-lens accommodation is a mediating mechanism behind increased trapezius muscle activity. Methods: The four papers included are based on two experiments with different visually demanding near work tasks (duration 5 and 7 min). Trial lenses of different diopters were used to manipulate the visual demands (i.e., induce more or less accommodation) and thereby create different viewing conditions. Monocular viewing, which does not require active convergence, was used to examine the isolated effect of accommodation. Eye-lens accommodation and trapezius muscle activity were measured continuously during the visual tasks, and in one experiment the participants rated their eye and neck/shoulder discomfort at baseline and after each visual task. Results: Neck/shoulder discomfort and trapezius muscle activity increased during the visually demanding near work and participants experiencing a greater increase in eye discomfort (compared with baseline) also developed more neck/shoulder discomfort with time. There were no significant differences in muscle activity among the viewing conditions, and no effect of isolated accommodation response within the monocular viewing conditions. Conclusion: These findings indicate that accommodation per se is unlikely to mediate trapezius muscle activity. Instead, the increase in trapezius muscle activity observed here may be due to a combination of high visual attention and enhanced requirement for eye-neck (head) stabilisation. Since these results suggest that neck/shoulder discomfort may aggravate with time when the visual demands are high, it is important to provide good visual conditions in connection with visually demanding occupations.
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