Work Environment of Nurses in a Metropolitan and Suburban Hospital - a Comparative Study in West Bengal

Patient satisfaction and outcome with healthcare settings depends on nursing care. The nurses encounter varied occupational hazards specific to their work settings which pose obstacles in performing their duties. Also, workplace violence is a growing problem in healthcare settings in India and has a direct relationship to stress, decreased work productivity and quality of patient care (Gates, et al., 2014: 65). There is a great deal of differences in the work settings of Metropolitan hospitals and suburban hospitals, in terms of infrastructure, environment, manpower, medical staff, financial aids or salary systems and in the way workplace violence is addressed. This working atmosphere plays a crucial role, although may not be the sole factor, in determining how much effort a nurse can give in caring for and helping patients to recuperate. Since nurses are tasked with identifying these problems and controlling them, their job satisfaction is important to address these problems and improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to study and investigate the factors that might act as hindrances for nurses in fulfilling their responsibilities.

This study will utilise a comparative explorative methodology. Nurses will be divided into two groups, one belonging to the Metropolitan hospital (Kolkata, West Bengal, India, ~ 14.3 million population) and the other to the Suburban hospital (Katwa, West Bengal, India, ~ 1 million population). Therefore it will be appropriate to use the stratified random sampling for conducting the study. Data for this research will be collected using the survey method involving the use of questionnaires having both close ended and open ended questions that will elicit the required answers from the respondents.