Organisational Factors Influencing Job Performance of Ambulance Health Care Professionals: Cross-Sectional Survey in Lithuania
The aim of this paper was to analyse organisational factors that affect attitudes of ambulance health care professionals to their job during the period of reform in ambulance stations.
Methods. A descriptive, cross-sectional study design was applied.
Results. An analysis of respondents’ attitudes to work organisation has shown that the majority of the respondents maintained that they had to be very accurate in their job, to think all the time and memorise a lot of things, to exploit all their skills and abilities. According to the results of the analysis, 79.2% of the respondents believe that their competences and those of their colleagues are adequate, 71% of the respondents maintain that the organisation provides employees with an opportunity to participate in training, and 61.6% of the respondents agree that an organisation creates favourable conditions for personal growth and improvement. The analysis of major stressors among ambulance health care professionals reveals that the respondents are most likely to suffer from stress when their health and safety is in danger.
Conclusions. Work organisation at ambulance stations is rather effective: health care professionals enjoy sufficient professional autonomy even though workload is quite heavy. However, the study participants indicate that support provided by leaders is not sufficient and major occupational stressors include danger to health and safety, communication with violent patients and patient deaths.
Correspondence to A. Blaževičienė Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eivenių 4, LT-50161 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: aurelija.blazeviciene@lsmuni.lt