Training not a fix-all for job performance of nurses: study

A holistic approach is best when it comes to managing the job performance of nurses, a researcher has argued.

Charles Sturt University PhD candidate Joanna Carlisle explored factors that might influence a nurse’s job performance, such as work environment, attitude towards organisational change, training effectiveness, organisational citizenship behaviour, non-mandatory training and intention to quit.

Carlisle said her thesis, supervised by Associate Professor Ramudu Bhanugopan, revealed that significant relationships exist between many of these factors and indicate the importance of an all-encompassing approach when managing job performance.

For example, the study found that the relationship between effective on-the-job training and performance is significantly affected by the work environment in hospitals.

“This means a negative work environment could result in training not providing any improvement to nurses’ performance, no matter how effectively it is delivered," Carlisle said.

The attitude of nurses to organisational change, whether positive or negative, also alters the level of their job performance but Carlisle found that the effectiveness of training provided by hospitals influences how large this impact is.

“This study offers a number of contributions and significant implications for nurses in Australian hospitals and health organisations, in general," she said, and added industry seems to regard training and development as the go-to fix-it response for poor performance.

Nursing Review spoke with Carlisle about the factors that positively and negatively influenced job performance and what a truly holistic approach to its management would involve.

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