Reference outpatient clinics: graduated nurses' experiences

Abstract

Introduction: A recently introduced reference outpatient clinic is administratively associated with a health center and includes specific provision for care management of primarily chronic diseases within the primary healthcare system. Findings reported in this paper relate to the position of registered nurses as part of an interprofessional team, the required knowledge, skills and competences of nurses, their further education and work satisfaction. Methods: A survey method was selected which, according to instrumentation, included a structured questionnaire. The latter asked about demographics, the nurses' workplace satisfaction and the perceived need for further education. The research sample consisted of registered nurses (n = 88) working in reference clinics within eighteen health centers. Reliability of the instrument (Cronbach alfa) was set at 0.734. Descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher's exact test were used. Results: The respondents stated that additional education provided new knowledge (81.8 %) which was helpful (73.9 %) and useful for daily routine (72.7 %). The highest level of agreement was achieved in the item stating that work experiences could be exchanged among the nurses themselves (x̄= 4.2) and that patients were satisfied with services provided (x̄ = 4.2). The level of knowledge of respondents (χ2 = 20.734, p = 0.016) and the suggestions for work process improvement (χ2 = 9.905, p = 0.007) were statistically significantly different in regard to the respondents' age. Discussion and conclusion: The survey results show that the nurses are reasonably satisfied with their work in reference outpatient clinics. The nurses should, however, be provided the possibility of promotion and additional education. There is a need to better information support and to encourage postgraduate education of nurses.