A comparison between the attitudes of nurses in Critical Care Units and other wards towards the nursing profession

According to the influence of professional attitudes on job satisfaction and improving of professional performance of nurses as a key member of the health teams, the present study has been conducted to compare the attitudes of the nurses working in the Critical Care Units (CCUs) and other wards.

This descriptive - analytic study was performed on 103 CCUs and 210 other wards nurses in hospital of Baqiyatallah (a.j.) and Jamaran cardiac hospital in early 2010. The subjects were selected through the systematic sampling method and investigated using a questionnaire on attitudes towards the nursing profession. The data was analyzed using SPSS15 software and descriptive statistic and chi square tests.

The study findings showed that 25.28% of CCUs nurses and 28.5% of and other wards nurses had negative or neutral attitudes towards their profession, and in spite of higher percentage of positive attitude among CCUs nurses, the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05).

In regard to this result that approximately ⅓ of the nurses in both groups, CCUs and other wards, had negative attitudes towards their profession, it is recommended to accomplish extensive practical researches to identify the causes and factors affecting nurse's attitudes toward the profession and to pursue management measures in order to induce positive attitudes and finally nurse's job satisfaction to enhance the quality of patient care.