Concept of Nursing Empowerment

Introduction Nursing has become a field wherein empowerment has become a key need factor.95 % of nursing work force in India are women. Empowered nurses experience less burn out and job stress. Nurses have the ability to influence others with knowledge, skill and transformational power in the care they provide. Yet in the arena of empowerment, nurses feel underpowered. This study aims at investigating their concept of nursing empowerment. Objective Assess the nurses concept of empowerment, delineate the areas where nurses feel empowered and to find the association between key areas of unempowerment and selected demographic variables. Materials and Methods A Survey was conducted among 170 trained nursing officers using a descriptive cross sectional design. Non purposive convenient sampling was used. Nursing Empowerment Assessment tool was used consisting of a self structured questionnaire. Results The study results revealed that (51.7 %) nursing empowerment encompassed of all the areas that is bringing innovations, developing skills, being techno savvy, and having fancy designations. Nursing empowerment was found high amongst senior nursing personnel (20- 30 yrs) of service. A statistically significant relationship was found between years of experience and feeling of being empowered ( p valueless than0.009 df= 2) Conclusion Empowering nurses not only guarantees a contended work force, it also enables the client to experience a high degree of satisfaction and promote a positive environment. This area requires much attention in addressing areas of professionalism.