Page 9
The nurse anesthetists believed that the managers regarded health as a personal responsibil-ity. Several participants mentioned that it was crucial to keep themselves in good physical condition to be able to cope with the demanding work situation.• Physiological and Psychological Needs. The nurse anesthetists experienced that the equipment they had to work with (operating room -s, anesthesia machines) was heavy and sometimes badly adapted to small or narrow operating rooms. Since members of different professions were collaborating around the patient, all of them did not have the same focus on using equipment for transferring and turning the patient. The participants also expressed the view that there was little time for reflecting over their work-related task performance.One participant said, “It is quite important with time and opportunities that there is a manager who can be there or some other person that you can take aside and say something there and then. So you don’t serve it up at the dinner -.”• Workplace Adaptation. The participants thought that their managers really wished to take care of them and to adapt the workplace and the working conditions to their needs and desires, but their experience was that the man-agers often lacked both the ability and the time to do so.www.aana.com/aanajournalonline AANA Journal n August 2012 n Vol. 80, No. 4 n Special Research Edition S77Instead, it seemed that only the senior coworkers and the employees with reduced work capacity or special needs could get the attention of the managers.• Well-being in an Operating Theater. The second category is called Well-being in an operating theater. The work environment was regarded as a crucial factor for the well-being of nurse anesthetists. It was described mainly in terms of collaboration among colleagues and with other professions, but also as opportunities for personal and professional learning and development. Different aspects of this category are described in the following 3 subcategories: Variations and unpredictability, Teamwork, and Appreciation.• Variations and Unpredictability. The work situation was described as demanding, but there were variations in intensity, which allowed some downtime. The variations from full control to unpredic- emergency situations were important for their choice of profession.