The Effect of Closed versus More Liberal Visitation Policies on Work Satisfaction Beliefs and Nurse Retention.

• Main Author: Boswell, Suzanne M.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2004
• Subjects: Nurse Satisfaction; Patient Centered Care; Family Visitation; Medicine and Health Sciences; Nursing
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/899; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2056&context=etd

Nurses believe that more liberal visitation policies will cause greater work overload and decrease the quality of patient care. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a liberal visitation policy on work satisfaction, beliefs, and retention of nurses. In this study, nurses were asked to complete a survey before and after implementation of a more liberal visitation policy. The nurses were surveyed using Stamps (1997) Index of Work Satisfaction and the Boswell Beliefs Inventory. Statistical analyses were conducted to discover nurses level of satisfaction and beliefs related to the new policy. Results indicate that nurses were more dissatisfied with the components of pay, task requirements, and organizational policy six months after the new policy was implemented. Beliefs about the new policy did not change over the six month period. Increased dissatisfaction with work indicates that the policy did have an effect on work satisfaction of nurses.