Working conditions of nurses employed in nursing homes in the province of Lugo: a career trajectory analysis.
Keywords:
Nursing, Working Conditions, Homes for the Aged, Sociology, Job SatisfactionAbstract
Background: Nursing plays a fundamental role in nursing homes, where residents often have high levels of dependency and cognitive impairment. The residential care sector in Galicia is highly privatized, which exposes staff to precarious working conditions. Labor precarity negatively affects the quality of care, the health of professionals, and increases staff turnover.
Objective: To analyze the working conditions of nurses in nursing homes in the province of Lugo and how these conditions influence their decision to enter, remain in, or leave the sector.
Methodology: A cross-sectional mixed-methods study using interviews and an ad hoc questionnaire. First, a discourse analysis was conducted based on semi-structured biographical interviews with experienced nursing home nurses (n=15), reconstructing their work trajectories and gathering descriptions of their working conditions; these findings were triangulated with interviews from other occupational profiles (n=5). Second, a descriptive and univariate analysis was carried out on data from a non-probabilistic online survey of nurses in the province (n=179), classified as currently employed in nursing homes (n=41), formerly employed (n=59), and with no experience in the sector (n=79).
Results: Job stability is the main factor attracting nurses to the sector, due to the prevalence of permanent contracts in the private sector. Work overload and, in private nursing homes, low salaries drive nurses to leave. These aspects of working conditions are among the lowest rated by professionals. Factors that promote retention include a good working environment and opportunities to develop professional competencies such as empathy and professional autonomy.
Conclusions: The working conditions of nurses in nursing homes reveal job precariousness, including work overload and, in the private sector, low wages. This precariousness is linked to the privatization of the sector and underfunding by public institutions. Implementing measures to improve working conditions is key to enhancing the quality of care and making the sector more attractive as an employment niche. It is essential to recognize and value the work of nurses in nursing homes in order to combat its devaluation.
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