Insights to Advocate for Positive Work Environments for Nurses

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, the shortage of health workers is expected to reach 18 million by 2030, leading to poorer health outcomes and health worker well-being. Although the reasons for this shortage are complex, a primary outcome of understaffing is reduced work environment quality, resulting in reduced health service delivery efficiencies and the further departure of health professionals from their caregiving roles and countries (Huang et al., 2021). Promoting positive and healthy work environments is crucial in times of healthcare staff shortages (Wei et al., 2018) and strategies are needed to promote better work environments for nurses. Effective leadership by nursing leaders is essential, while effective communication may serve as a core element in promoting healthy work environments. Moreover, effective teamwork is crucial to maintaining healthy work environments, and the need for professional autonomy among nurses is also significant (Mabona et al., 2022). The findings of Mabona provide significant insights for improving work environments for nurses. Insightful actions are important to effectively advocating for positive and healthy nurse work environments. Suggested actions include: (a) Identify nursing leaders with real leadership qualities and empathy who are best able to influence their work environment. (b) Improve national salary structures for nurses in some countries of nurses and optimize nurse staffing. Insufficient staffing and stagnant nurse salaries make it extremely challenging to foster a supportive work environment amidst overwhelming workloads and shortages. (c) Most newer nurses may pursue nursing as a career not merely for financial support but also out of a real passion for the profession. Thus, nursing workplaces may employ new approaches to guide these nurses and delineate clearly their rights and responsibilities to address their career development needs. (d) Healthcare institutions may establish legal consultation channels for nurses, providing advice and assistance regarding unfriendly incidents in the workplace. Nurses must be informed regarding labor laws and regulations pertaining to their work to avoid excessive workloads and long hours. (e) A high level of professional recognition for the nursing profession must be cultivated across society. Not recognizing nurses as vital social capital may further erode the chances to nurture positive and healthy environments for them. Continuously advocating for positive and healthy work environments for nurses must not be only a slogan. Successful advocacy requires changing mindsets and practices in both government and healthcare institutions to achieve practical objectives. The articles published in this issue provide substantial research evidence on this and other topics in nursing. We hope that readers of this journal draw further inspiration from these efforts. We truly hope and encourage our readers to advocate for and implement concrete actions to improve nursing workplace quality.