Abstract

Background and Aim: Staff nurse decisional involvement is associated with positive patient outcomes including a higher nurseperceived quality of patient care, lower patient mortality, fewer complications and lower levels of job strain and burnout. The aim of this study was to investigate the actual and preferred levels of the decisional involvement of nurses in the Iranian state. Material and Methods: This was a descriptive study that was performed at the ILAM general hospitals, IR, during the year 2010. The research instrument which was used was the decisional involvement scale (DIS). A sample of 96 registered nurses (RN) were enrolled in the study by using a simple random sampling method. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Program, Version 11.5 (SPSS). Results: The nurses reported the actual involvement in their work environment to be only somewhat (M = 2, SD = 0.75) and also reported high levels of preferred involvement (M = 4, SD = 0.65). Collaboration/liaison activities were the most actual involvement aspect in the work environments of the nurses (M = 3.1, SD = 0.69) and unit governance and leadership were the most preferred forms of involvement (M= 4.2, SD= 0.56).Discussion and Conclusion: The results provide support for decisional involvement in the population of Iranian nurses. Therefore, efforts to improve the quality of the nursing work environments into decisional involvement are critically important to sustaining a strong nursing work force in the future. These findings have important implications for nursing leadership.