Professional nursing practice in critical units: assessment of work environment characteristics ; Práctica profesional del enfermero en unidades críticas: evaluación de las características del ambiente de trabajo ; Prática profissional do enfermeiro em unidades críticas: avaliação das características do ambiente de trabalho

Objective: assess the autonomy, control over environment, and organizational support of nurses' work process and the relationships between physicians and nurses in critical care units. Method: cross-sectional study conducted with 162 nurses working in the intensive care units and emergency service of a university hospital. The workers' satisfaction with their work environment was assessed using Brazilian Nursing Work Index - Revised, translated and adapted for the Brazilian culture. Results: average age was 31.6 +/- 3.9 years ; 80.2% were women ; 68.5% Caucasians and 71.6% worked in intensive care units. The nurses considered autonomy (2.38 +/- 0.64) and their relationship with physicians (2.24 +/- 0.62) to be characteristics of the work environment that favored professional practice. Control over environment (2.78 +/- 0.62) and organizational support (2.51 +/- 0.54), however, were considered to be unfavorable. No statistically significant differences were found between the units based on the scores obtained by the professionals on the Brazilian Nursing Work Index - Revised. Conclusion: autonomy, relationship between physicians and nurses, and organizational support were considered by the units to be characteristics that favored nurses' professional practices. On the other hand, control over environment and organizational support were considered unfavorable. ; Objetivos: avaliar a autonomia, o controle sobre o ambiente, o suporte organizacional do processo de trabalho dos enfermeiros e as relações entre médicos e enfermeiros em unidades críticas. Método: estudo transversal realizado com 162 enfermeiros das unidades de terapia intensiva e do serviço de emergência de um hospital universitário. A avaliação da satisfação do profissional com o ambiente de trabalho foi realizada por meio do Brazilian Nursing Work Index - Revised, traduzido e adaptado para a cultura brasileira. Resultados: a média de idade foi 31,6 ± 3,9 anos, 80,2% mulheres, 68,5% brancos e 71,6% trabalhavam em unidade de terapia intensiva. Os ...