How robots impact nurses' time pressure and turnover intention: A two-wave study.

AIMS: To examine the relationships among effort ensuring robots' smooth operation (EERSO), time pressure, missed care, and nurses' turnover intention, and how robot performance moderates such relations. BACKGROUND: Robots may reduce nurses' workload but typically still require some effort of nurses for robots' smooth operation. However, the negative impact of EERSO on nurses' workplace outcomes is unknown. METHODS: This study used a two-wave follow-up design. Data were collected in a medical center in Taiwan, with first wave collected in 2019 and second wave collected between 2019 and 2020. A total of 331 participants were followed through the two waves. RESULTS: EERSO is positively linked to missed care and time pressure. Time pressure is also positively linked to missed care and turnover intention. Positive robot performance weakens the positive link between EERSO and time pressure. CONCLUSION: Using robots may help reduce nurses' workload, but it also requires nurses' efforts to maintain robots' continuous operation, that is, EERSO. It may adversely impact nursing professional workplaces. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers should reduce nurses' time pressure whilst suggest hospital managers to seek robots that require minimal EERSO.

How Robots Help Nurses Focus on Professional Task Engagement and Reduce Nurses' Turnover Intention.

PURPOSE: To examine how robot-enabled focus on professional task engagement and robot-reduced nonprofessional task engagement are related to nurses' professional turnover intention. DESIGN: We adopted a two-wave study design. METHODS: We collected the first wave of data in a large hospital in Taiwan during October and November 2019 and the second wave between December 2019 and February 2020. We used the data collected from 331 nurses who participated in both waves. FINDINGS: We found that robot-enabled focus on professional task engagement is positively related to nurses' overall job satisfaction and perceived health improvement. Robot-reduced nonprofessional task engagement is positively related to nurses' perceived health improvement. Both overall job satisfaction and perceived health improvement are negatively related to nurses' professional turnover intention. CONCLUSIONS: Robots' ability to focus nurses' efforts in professional tasks may help improve nurses' health and overall job satisfaction, and by extension reduce their turnover intention. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Nurse managers could suggest hospitals introduce robots, particularly those that can share nurses' nonprofessional workload. This, meanwhile, could focus nurses' efforts on professional task engagement.