Condizioni di lavoro e intenzione di cambiare: risultati dello studio europeo Next in Italia

Introdution The nursing shortage is an increasing problem worldwide. The Nurses’ Early Exit Study (NEXT) is aimed at investigating the reasons of premature departure from the nursing profession in 10 european countries including Italy. The present paper illustrates the main results concerning the Italian sample. Materials and methods: 56.406 registered nurses from the ten participant European countries filled in the questionnaires of the longitudinal investigation. Comparisons of the Italian socio-demographic characteristics and working conditions with that of the other European samples were performed. By means of multivariate linear regression analysis, the worse working conditions during the years 2002-2003 were examined in relation to health, well being and intent to leave during the years 2003-2004 . The risk to develop the intent to change ward/service or institution was evaluated by estimation of the odd-ratios. Results: Difficulties in asserting professional autonomy inside health institutions result from Italian investigation as the main reason of dissatisfaction and intent to change workplace or profession, particularly for the younger staff. Discussion: The results are explained in the framework of current theories that ascribes the responsibility of sustaining personnel autonomy to the organizations in order to maintain and improve their motivation, health and well being. Conclusion: Actions should be taken by institutions to ensure this right. Further reasearche could be useful to direct and sustain mentoring activities during younger nurses’working practice.