Rebuilding nursing post pandemic with wellbeing as the foundation

https://doi.org/10.14528/snr.2023.57.2.3248 Decades of research by Gallup in wellbeing reveals among the five types of wellbeing, it is wellbeing at work that is the most important, and this importance is highlighted post covid (Clifton & Harter, 2021). That is because we spend so much of our time at work and wellbeing at work influences all other four types of wellbeing. The most important predictor of wellbeing at work is the interaction the worker has with their immediate manager (Clifton & Harter, 2021). This finding is also pronounced post covid (Clifton & Harter, 2021). The Caring Science International Collaborative (CSIC), an international collaborative, is helping to examine latent constructs like caring and satisfaction in models that provide insight into more complex constructs like wellbeing at work. Understanding how different constructs relate to outcomes like turnover intent, within rigorous and collaborative researchbased organization like this will help nurses move to a more self-directed position in healthcare. CSIC has been studying constructs aligned with wellbeing at work for nurses to develop and scientifically test a model of wellbeing at work that can be used globally to rebuild nursing post pandemic with wellbeing as the foundation. This model of wellbeing at work can be used to add to models that study outcomes, to specify measurement models that not only measure system and patient variables, but importantly include nurses' wellbeing at work as a central predictor of outcomes. Concepts the CSIC has been studying within this 35item model of wellbeing at work include assessment of job satisfaction, clarity of role and system, nurse's report of caring for self, and if the nurse perceives their direct manager acts in a caring way toward them. This brief article is about the research of a group of nurses from 18 countries and the findings they are discovering in their collaborative work about wellbeing at work, and how this relates to nurse outcomes, including intent for turnover. Job satisfaction, according to CSIC, is based on sociotechnical systems theory (Trist & Bamforth, 1951). According to this theory, workers report job satisfaction when they have the social and technical resources to perform their work. A recent study of the CSIC reveals there are six factors of job satisfaction, including three social and three technical (Nelson et al., 2022b). Social factors include satisfaction with relationships with coworkers, communication with their direct manager, and being able to care and plan for patients throughout their stay on their respective unit of care. Technical variables include satisfaction with professional growth, autonomy to perform their work using their education and experience, and how the organization rewards them for the effort and good work put forth. Clarity within this international study is based on the work by Felgen (Nelson & Felgen, 2021). According to this writing, clarity includes understanding not only what their tasks are but also how to manage their time in relationship to these tasks. Possibly most importantly, is clarity on how the system works so they can successfully navigate the resources within the organization so they can fully realize how to enact the role and provide continuous oversight of the patients they care for, to ensure the plan of care is followed through and carried out. This not only helps the patient speed toward recovery, but it helps build trust with the patient which ultimately adds to the Editorial/Uvodnik