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Agency-nursing work : perceptions and experiences of agency nurses
journal contribution
posted on 2003-03-01, 00:00 authored by Elizabeth ManiasElizabeth Manias, R Aitken, Anita Peerson, J Parker, K WongThis paper explores agency-nursing work from the perspective of agency nurses to gain in-depth understanding of their clinical practice, their relationships with the employing agency, hospitals and permanent nurses, and their professional status. For this study, individual interviews were conducted with ten agency nurses who were registered with one of three nursing agencies in Melbourne, Australia. Five major themes emerged from interview data: orientation, allocation of agency nurses, reasons for doing agency-nursing work, experiences with hospital staff, and professionalism. The findings reveal that the primary reason for nurses engaging in agency-nursing work is for the flexibility it offers. While agency nurses described a commitment to professionalism, the findings emphasise the need to establish effective communication networks between agency nurses, nursing agencies and hospital institutions. Such communication between stakeholders is important to facilitate discussion of issues such as appropriate notification of shift availability, appropriate assignment of work and recognition of the agency nurse as a valuable member of the health care team. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of comprehensive orientation and education for agency nurses to shift the focus of their daily work from task completion to more comprehensive patient care.
History
Journal
International journal of nursing studiesVolume
40Issue
3Pagination
269 - 279Publisher
ElsevierLocation
Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPublisher DOI
ISSN
0020-7489eISSN
1873-491XLanguage
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2003, ElsevierUsage metrics
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