Journal Article

Managing Sustainable Working Hours within Participatory Working Time Scheduling for Nurses and Assistant Nurses: A Qualitative Interview Study with Managers and Staffing Assistants

Epstein, Majken, Tucker, Philip, Arakelian, Erebouni, Dahlgren, Anna

2023

Overview

Aim. To bring insights into how healthcare managers and staffing assistants work to achieve sustainable working hours within a participatory scheduling system. Background. Hospital nurses and assistant nurses often work on rotating shifts, which affects their opportunities for sleep, recovery, and work-life balance. In Sweden, a participatory scheduling approach is commonly used, where working hours are planned in collaboration between employees, managers, and staffing assistants. Influence over working hours is related to positive outcomes among shift workers. However, it also places responsibility on the employee to schedule working hours that promote health and patient safety, i.e., sustainable working hours. Accordingly, the organisation has responsibilities to support the employee in this regard. Methods. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 11 managers and 9 staffing assistants from four Swedish regions and analysed using thematic analysis. Results. Several key factors for achieving sustainable working hours within the context of participatory scheduling were described: distribution and clarity of responsibilities, allocating time for scheduling, establishing shared responsibility, considering fairness, fostering an individual relationship with the employee, managing dissatisfaction, providing support, clarifying guidelines for sustainable scheduling, managing inconsistencies between employee requests and sustainable working hours, and considering recovery opportunities and the competence mix on shifts. Additionally, contextual factors, such as staffing levels, working procedures, working time arrangements for night work, and technological support, were highlighted as important. Conclusion. Achieving sustainable working hours within participatory scheduling involves considering the interactions between factors at the levels of the organisation, the individual, and the technological systems. Implication for Nursing Management. Nurse managers and staffing assistants must work closely with their employees during participatory scheduling to ensure sustainable working hours. Key goals in this regard include establishing a shared responsibility, clarifying responsibilities and guidelines for sustainable scheduling, and allocating time for the scheduling process.

• Publisher: Hindawi,John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: Adult / assistant nurses / Assistants / Cardiovascular disease / Employees / Fatigue / Female / Health education / Health promotion / Health services / Humans / Interviews / Interviews as Topic - methods / Job Satisfaction / Labor shortages / Leadership / Male / Managers / Medical personnel / Middle Aged / Nurse Administrators - psychology / Nurse managers / Nurses / Nurses - psychology / Nursing / Nursing Assistants - psychology / participatory working time scheduling / Patient safety / Patients / Personnel Staffing and Scheduling - standards / Personnel Staffing and Scheduling - trends / Psychology / psykologi / qualitative interview study / Qualitative Research / Recovery / Scheduling / Shift work / Sleep / Staffing / staffing assistants / Sustainability / sustainable working hours / Sweden / Time / Work / Work life balance / Work Schedule Tolerance - psychology / Work-Leisure conflict / Workforce planning / Working hours