Quality of work life and work engagement among nurses with standardised training: The mediating role of burnout and career identity

Aim: To explore the impact of the quality of work life of nurses with standardised training on their work engagement and its impact path, that is, the intermediary role of career identity and job burnout. Background: Most countries currently face the serious problem of a shortage of nurses and this difficulty is likely to persist for a long time. In recent years, some hospitals in China have attempted to try out clinical standardised training for new nurses for a duration of at least two years. They need to cope with clinical work, training assessments, and low salaries. Ways to improve the work input of new nurses play a pivotal role in reducing the turnover rate of nurses. Design: The current research is a cross-sectional study. Methods: Valid questionnaires were received from 245 nurses from the tertiary hospitals between June and July 2021. AMOS was used to conduct a structural equation model to evaluate the mediating effect of burnout and career identity on the association between the quality of work life and work engagement. We describe the study in accordance with the STROBE statement. Results: The quality of the work life of nurses with standardised training is at a medium to high level (191.62 +/- 27.18) and their work engagement is at a relatively high level (75.77 +/- 19.60). Quality of work life was negatively correlated with burnout (r(1) = 0.672, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with career identity (r(2) = 0.810, p < 0.001) and work engagement (r(2) = 0.642, p < 0.001). Moreover, a positive relationship was found between the quality of work life and work engagement (beta(1) =0.644), which was mediated by burnout and career identity (beta(2) =0.144, beta(3) =0.218). Conclusions: Although the work engagement of nurses with standardised training is encouraging, that work engagement decreases with the increase in the age of nurses, still needs investigation. When nurse managers want to improve the work engagement of new nurses, they should not only pay attention to the quality of work life but take career identity and burnout into consideration.