Associations between Employment Conditions and Health Status among Clinical Research Nurses
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Yang, Chia-Hsuan
Abstract
Objectives: A growing number of nurses have been involved in clinical trials along with the rapid growth of clinical research. Most of the clinical research nurses are precarious employees, whom might have greater health risks due to job insecurity and poor occupational safety and health protection. However, their work and health status has rarely been investigated. This study was designed to examine the employment conditions, health status and their associations among clinical research nurses in Taiwan. In addition, this study was designed to compare the employment conditions and health status between clinical research nurses and other employees. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted anonymously using a questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions. Study subjects were recruited at several workshop meetings organized by the Taiwan Academy of Clinical Research Nurses during the period from 26 August to 10 December 2015, in which clinical research were invited to participate in this survey on a voluntary basis. A total of 80 participants answered and completed questionnaires. The employment modes were classification as “precarious employment” and “permanent employment” in this study, “contract-based employment” and “short-term or seasonal employment” was defined as “precarious employment”; “long-term employment” was defined as “permanent employment”. Results: All of the study participants were women; most of them were in the age range of 30-39 years and were university-educated, and had been practicing in clinical research less than 5 years. Most of the study subjects (73.8%) were employed by the hospitals but a majority of them (81.3%) were employed on a short-term contract basis. There was no significant difference in self-rated health and bodily pain in clinical research nurses across different employment modes. However, there were significant high percentage in precarious employment, poor self-rated health, and bodily pain between clinical research nurses in study and the “Survey of Perceptions of Safety and Health in the Work Environment in 2013 Taiwan”. Major factors that affected heath status of clinical research nurses included: precarious employment, workloads, stress, need to run around in hospital, fewer social support from supervisors and work requiring concentration for long time. Conclusion: Usually, clinical research nurses were employed on a short-term contract basis. Major occupational health concerns are burnout and bodily pain and their risk factors included precarious employment and heavy workloads. The author suggested the TACRN to provide relevant training programs for junior clinical research nurses, to provide advance trainings for senior clinical research nurses, to organize workshops for experience sharing, and to set up guidelines for professional accreditation. The author also suggested that employing institutions to clearly define the scope of work of clinical research nurses, to guarantee appropriate salary and welfare provision, and to minimize precarious employment by adopting clinical research nurses as regular employees.
Subjects
Clinical research nurse
Precarious employment
Employment condition
Employee health status in workplace
SDGs
Type
thesis
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