1st Edition

Nursing in the European Union The World of Work

By Sondra Z. Koff Copyright 2016
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    Nursing in the European Union demonstrates how the European Union (EU) has refashioned the nursing world throughout the Member States via its power in many other policy domains. Volume 1 focused on the EU's impact on nursing education, regulation, and research endeavours. This volume focuses on real-life situations and problems EU nurses face—wages, stress, work environments, and dispute resolution—and places them in a comparative perspective.

    In this unique work, Sondra Z. Koff develops a profile of nurses' workplaces, highlighting similarities and diversities, challenges, and nurses' opinions. Though it has limited formal authority in the health and health care sectors, the EU has had a significant impact on the working life of these practitioners in areas such as employment options, industrial relations and their outcomes, organizational and environmental features of nurses' workplaces, collective action, and more.

    New policies and legalities are regulating the production, distribution, practices, and organization of nursing according to supranational standards. Koff helps to fill a gap in the literature, given the dearth of comparative, cross-national, book-length studies of the nursing profession. By adopting a framework focused on an institution, policies, and politics, Koff addresses these topics from the perspective of multiple actors, both national and international.

    Contents

    List of Abbreviations

    List of European Union Institutions and Processes

    List of European Union Member States and Year of Entry

    1 Employment
    Introduction
    Initial Employment—The First Position
    The Hospital
    Staffing Ratios
    Nursing Care Delivery Models
    Audit and Feedback
    Shift Handover
    Intentional Rounding
    Hospital Shortages
    Primary Care
    Other Community Nursing Sites
    Home Care
    Palliative Care
    Extended Care
    Advanced Practice Nursing
    Walk-In Centres and Telehealth Nursing
    Independent Practice: The Self-Employed
    Agency and Bank Nursing
    Other Employment Choices
    Skill Mix
    The Public and Private Sectors
    Professional Practice: Work Styles
    Professional Practice and the New Social Scene
    Turnover
    Nurse Employment and the Financial Crisis
    The European Union and Health-Care Human
    Resources Management

    2 Industrial Relations and Payment Mechanisms
    Introduction
    Trade Unions
    Employer Organizations
    Collective Bargaining
    Basic Wages
    Supplements to Basic Wages
    Wage Evaluation
    Social Security and Pensions
    Conclusion

    3 The World of Work: Basic Organizational Features
    Working Time
    Overtime
    Part-time
    Work Patterns
    Annual Paid and Additional Leaves
    Public Holidays
    Maternity and Parental Leaves
    Childcare
    Absenteeism
    Conclusion

    4 The World of Work: Its Environment
    Introduction
    Physical Conditions
    Psychosocial Conditions
    Stress
    Effort–Reward Balance
    Work–Family Balance
    Job Insecurity
    Professional Relationships
    Burnout
    Work Ability
    Violence: The Physical and Psychological Facets
    Job Satisfaction and the Meaning of Work
    Job and Organizational Commitment
    Intent to Leave the Place of Employment and/or
    the Profession
    Conclusion

    5 Industrial Action
    Introduction
    Issues Spurring Collective Action
    Collective Action Tactics
    Alternate Dispute Resolution
    Dispute Resolution and the Courts
    Summary and Conclusion

    6 Member States, the European Union, and the Workplace

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Sondra Z. Koff