Iranian nurses perception of control over nursing practice

Abstract

Control over nursing practice (CONP) is a shared governance process in connection with patient care and developing guidelines, policies and strategies in nursing science whereupon the nurses would be able to enter the decision making process regarding their performance with respect to given framework. This study was conducted with the objective to determine how Iranian nurses perceive the concept of CONP. The method adapted here is descriptive accompanied with random stratified sampling. The participants of the study consist of 363 nurses employed in the hospitals for which Index of Professional Nursing Governance (IPNG) questionnaire used to collect data which analyzed through the statistical s/w SPSS 17 and statistical test like t test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. CONP total score among the participants was 137.47 آ± 39.22 and the scorers in the different subscales were as follows: Professional control (M=28.69, SD=10.07), Organizational influence (M=26/39,SD=8/76), Organizational recognition(M=23/97, SD=8/66), Facilitating structures (M=17.19, SD=7.03), Liaison (M=27.99, SD=8.37)and Alignment (M=13.21, SD=5.45). CONP scores differed significantly in the demographic and occupational variables like Marital Status , ward , Educational level , Employment and Direct patient caretaking. In general, the results calls for some revisions in managerial process of the hospitals towards more participative multidisciplinary management. آ© EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2012.