W. Chaboyer et al., Cohesion among nurses: a comparison of bedside vs. charge nurses' perceptions in Australian hospitals, J ADV NURS, 35(4), 2001, pp. 526-532
Aim. This study examines the extent to which hospital nurses view their wor
king environment in a positive sense, working as a cohesive group.
Background. Despite the fact that nursing in Australia is now considered a
profession, it has been claimed that nurses are an oppressed group who use
horizontal violence, bullying and aggression in their interactions with one
and other.
Methods. After ethical approval, a random sample of 666 nurses working dire
ctly with patients and all 333 critical care nurses employed in three large
tertiary Australian hospitals were invited to participate in the study in
the late 1990s. A mailed survey examined the perceptions of interaction nur
ses had with each other. The hypothesis, that level of employment (either L
evel I bedside nurses or Level II/III clinical leaders) and area of work (e
ither critical care or noncritical care) would influence perceptions of coh
esion, as measured by the cohesion amongst nurses scale (CANS) was tested.
Results. In total 555 (56%) surveys were returned. Of these, 413 were retur
ned by Level I and 142 by Level II/III nurses. Of this sample, 189 were cri
tical care and 355 noncritical care nurses. There was no difference between
Level I and II/III nurses in mean CANS scores. It is interesting to note t
hat the item rated most positively was, 'nurses on the units worked well to
gether', however, the item rated least positive was 'staff can be really bi
tchy towards each other' for both Level I and II/III nurses. There was no d
ifference in CANS scores between critical care and noncritical care nurses.
Conclusions. Nurses working in Australian hospitals perceived themselves to
be moderately cohesive but, as would be expected in other work settings, s
ome negative perceptions existed.