Publication

An Investigation of Nurse's Work-Life Balance in Public Sector Hospitals in Ireland

Browne, Patricia
Citation
Browne, P. (2012) "An Investigation of Nurse's Work-Life Balance in Public Sector Hospitals in Ireland". The 11th World Congress of the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management.
Abstract
"Nurses are the single largest group of registered and regulated practitioners in the health workforce of any country and are internationally recognised as being fundamental to the provision of health care" (WHO:2002). The main aim of any health service is to ensure adequate, efficient and quality patient care. A number of commissioned research reports have sought to look at human resource issues such as the Report of the National Taskforce on Medical Staffing (2003), Action Plan for People Management in the Health Service (2002) and the Integrated Employee and Well-being strategy 2009-2014. These have looked at both staff and service needs and this often is a delicate balancing act in itself. The Integrated Employee and Well-being strategy 2009-2014 states that 34% of all staff employed by the HSE were in the nursing category at the end of December 2008 (HSE:2009). This group alone, as has already been recognized by the World Health Organisation (WHO) play a huge role in providing health care in any country. An acknowledgement of this fact serves to highlight that an investment in adequate nursing staff numbers and proper HR policies and practices is a must in any countries hospital infrastructure. HR managers should be advocates as well as enforcers of good HRM policy and practices within their hospital organisations. The consequences, if the HR role is not promoted and properly integrated could well have deleterious effects for employees and services alike. Nurses play a vital role in healthcare provision. HR practices which affect nurse well-being, attendance and workplace performance are a very important element of adequate, efficient and quality employee care in hospital settings.
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Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland