The well-being of Hungarian nurses in a changing health care system

Aim Present study aimed to investigate how nurses perceivedthe alteration of the Hungarian health care system at theirworkplaces. Furthermore, it was examined how uncertaintycaused by the changes affects the positive and negative wellbeingof nurses.Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted in six Hungarianhospitals during the period between October and December2010. The questionnaire used contained questions regardingsocio-demographic data, the Well-being Scale, the JobDemand Scale, the Job Control Scale, the Job Social SupportScale and six self-developed questions to investigate uncertainty.Data of 1048 person were analyzed with SPSS 18.0 statisticalprogramme. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis andunpaired two-sample t-test were conducted.Results The alteration of the health care system affected theworkplaces of 64.6% of the respondents. The fear of losing theco-workers (p<0.001), of relocation into another ward/department(p=0.001) and of reduction of wage (p<0.001), furthermore,inability to attend in-service trainings (p=0.009) occurredsignificantly more often among those who experienced thereorganization. Beside work demand, control and support alsouncertainty contributed significantly to the explanatory powerof the nurses’ positive (p=0.003) and negative (p<0.001) wellbeing.Conclusion The intensive feeling of uncertainty increased thenegative well-being of the nurses. As control and support atthe workplace reduce the feeling of uncertainty they need to beenhanced. Workplace leaders might have a big role in this andthey could also give nurses more opportunities to shape theirworkplace environment.