Nurses' Perceptions of Their Practice Environment in Public Hospitals: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

The study aims to investigate registered nurses' perceptions of their practice environment in public hospitals. A 12-month repeated cross-sectional study with quarterly surveys was conducted in 71 adult medical and surgical wards in four public hospitals in Hong Kong. The perceptions of nurses' practice environment were measured by the 31-item Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index administered in four quarterly survey waves (ranging from 604 to 865 participants). Four of the five subscales scored above 2.5 on average, indicating that these wards were considered favorable practice environments. The only subscale rated unfavorably was "Staffing and resource adequacy."