The purpose of this study was to verify the effectiveness of evaluation using the Hatarakiyasusa Scale for Staff Nurses (HS-SNs), with regard to nurses’ and other personnel’s contributions to the creation of a positive workplace. Hatarakiyasusa is a Japanese concept which reflects one’s perceptions of one’s work or work environment. Effectiveness here is measured by whether nurses’ and other personnel’s perceptions towards creation of positive workplaces arise from the interpretation of staff nurses’ scoring on HS-SNs. Surveys were conducted at four nursing units in three hospitals. Firstly, staff nurses were asked to score the Hatarakiyasusa in their workplaces using HS-SNs. Then, interviews and questionnaires were conducted with nurses and other personnel in the workplaces to identify their perceptions arising from their interpretation of the staff nurses’ scoring. From the results of qualitative analysis, 65 categories were identified. Two criteria drawn from the literature were adopted to verify the effectiveness of evaluation. Almost all the categories met these criteria. This means that most of the participants’ perceptions concerning Hatarakiyasusa could lead to behavioural changes for the creation of positive workplaces. The extent to which each nursing unit fulfilled the criteria was calculated. Two of the four units fulfilled 100% of the first criteria and two fulfilled 67%. In addition, all four fulfilled 100% of the second criteria. Therefore, the effectiveness of evaluation using HS-SNs in the creation of a more positive workplace was verified.

This study aims to develop a learning needs assessment tool for staff nurses working in hospitals through the following three steps: (1) creation of question items based on the results of qualitative and inductive research, with a scale for each item and organizing the layout, (2) examination of the validity from the content aspect by expert meetings and pilot studies, and (3) determination of the reliability and validity by primary and secondary surveys. With the learning needs assessment tool for staff nurses, a primary survey of a questionnaire with 34-item 6-point Likert scales was conducted. Questionnaires were mailed to 1,554 staff nurses working in hospitals nationwide, 686 responses (44.1%) were collected, and 440 valid responses were analyzed. The Cronbach’s α reliability coefficient was .953, showing the internal consistency of the scale. Nurses with a role model (t = 2.50, p = .01) and those with clear goals (t = 2.26, p = .02) have statistically significantly higher total scores than those without. This represents the external aspect validity evidence of the scale. A principal component analysis gave a load on the first principal component of all the questions as ≥ .50 in absolute value and the one-dimensional rate of contribution was 40.7%, suggesting the validity of the scale from structural aspects. A secondary test-retest with 200 staff nurses gave a total correlation coefficient of .72 (p < .001), showing the stability of the scale. The assessment tool was determined to be highly reliable and valid.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the roles and role characteristics of chief nursing officers in the provision of in-service education in hospitals with fewer than 300 beds in which full-time education manager could not be assigned, and to consider the implications regarding in-service education. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview method from 15 chief nursing officers.
Content analysis for nursing education based on Berelson’s methodology was applied, and both individual and overall analyses were conducted. In the individual analysis, 345 recording units were extracted and in the overall analysis, 24 categories were created describing the roles of chief nursing officer in-service education, including a) communicating their intentions regarding in-service education to their subordinates, b) explaining the importance of in-service education to hospital executives, and c) searching for the right person to hire people involved in this education. The rate of agreement in category classification was greater than 70% according to the formula of W. A. Scott, indicating the reliability of the categories.
As a result of considering the 24 categories, the role characteristics of six items were clarified, including “I am involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the training program myself and in teaching my subordinates specialized knowledge.” From these characteristics, we obtained suggestions for training that include five points as educational opportunities for chief nursing officers. These comprise clarification of vision for in-service education, as well as the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed for planning, implementing, and evaluating in-service training programs.

This study aims to understand the experiences of hospital nurses who resigned from their employment citing job-related difficulties, and identify their characteristics. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews from 13 nurses who resigned from a hospital in less than three years of joining, from had thought of it for at least six months prior to their actual resignation. According to the analysis, 21 concepts emerged. Some of these include smooth job performance through accumulation of clinical experience and job performance with inertia, accumulation of mental and physical burden owing to challenges in adapting to the working environment, searching for new goals and determination to resign, and inability to establish goals. The concepts that represented the experience of nurses who resigned from their job contained eight further characteristics, including fulfilling their duties as a nurse, facing job-related difficulties, and a loss of goals that affected their willingness to continue work. Our results can be used by nurses considering resigning to view their job performance status objectively, deal with their problems, and orient their future. In addition, the findings will help nursing staff offer necessary support to nurses who are considering resigning.

This study aims to develop concepts that express the experiences of assistant head nurses to globally understand the experiences, identify the characteristics through discussion of the concepts, and obtain ideas to improve the role performance of assistant head nurses. The participants are 15 active assistant head nurses with a longer than one year experience as assistant head nurses. Using Methodology for Conceptualization of Nursing, we analyzed the experiences of assistant head nurses from semi-structured interviews, and identified concepts representing their experiences. Eighteen concepts include ‘Understanding and performing the role of assistant head nurses through experiences and learning’, ‘Presenting own opinions to the head nurse and other assistant head nurses, and feeling conflicts due to disagreements’, ‘Promoting unity and avoiding conflicts in medical teams to provide nursing smoothly’, ‘Performing the educational role for staff nurses and nursing students based on the views as both nurse manager and practitioner’, and ‘Efforts to identify tasks as assistant head nurses and perform the tasks by trial and error’. The 18 concepts are covered by five characteristics, including “Engaging in workplace management by interacting with the staff involving in nursing of the own workplace to ensure quality nursing without upsets”, “Providing support for individual staff nurses with a managerial and educational perspective”, and “Developing by engaging in and performing the role of assistant head nurses”. It is important for assistant head nurses to perform their roles with an objective understanding of current conditions reflecting on their role performance based on the identified concepts and characteristics.