NR 587 Week 3 Engagement Data Analysis Example

Engagement Data Analysis: Who Answered the Spring 2026 Survey on a 32-Bed Medical-Surgical Unit, Four Items Read by Shift and 27 Comments Counted Into Themes

Student Name

College of Nursing, Chamberlain University

NR 587: Advanced Nursing Leadership Within Healthcare Environments

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Engagement Data Analysis: Who Answered the Spring 2026 Survey on a 32-Bed Medical-Surgical Unit, Four Items Read by Shift and 27 Comments Counted Into Themes

Who Answered

The hospital's annual engagement survey ran in April 2026. All 58 registered nurses on the unit's staff were invited; agency nurses were not. Forty-one replied, a response rate of 71%. By shift, 22 of 28 day nurses replied (79%) and 19 of 30 night nurses (63%). By tenure, 9 of 14 nurses with less than a year on the unit replied (64%).

The night group is smaller and responded less, so its scores rest on 19 people. A difference of 10 points on a night item is a difference of about two people. The less-than-one-year group, at 9 respondents, is too small for its scores to stand alone, and the survey vendor suppresses results for groups under 5. The analysis uses it only alongside other evidence.

The Items Actually Used

The survey has 38 items. Four are used here, chosen before looking at the results because they match the three directions in the exit interviews. Their wording, as printed on the survey:

Item 12: "I would recommend this unit as a good place to work."

Item 19: "Staffing on my usual shift is adequate to provide safe patient care."

Item 24: "I can raise a concern on my unit without fear of negative consequences."

Item 31: "I am treated with respect by the people I work with on my unit."

Each is answered on a five-point scale. Scores below are the share answering agree or strongly agree.

Choosing the Comparison

I chose two comparisons. The first is day against night on the same unit, because the earlier assessment found the problem concentrated on nights. The second is the hospital's medical-surgical nursing average, because it describes units with similar patients and pay. I did not use the national benchmark the vendor supplies, because it mixes very different hospitals and would make any unit look either good or bad depending on its region.

The Scores

The unit scores below the hospital on all four items. The gap between days and nights is larger than the gap between days and the hospital on every item. On days, the unit is close to the hospital average except on item 12. On nights it is far below.

What the Scores Do and Do Not Say

Item 19 shows that night nurses think staffing is inadequate, which matches the ratio and agency figures. Item 24 and item 31 are lower on nights than item 19 alone would predict if staffing were the only issue: night nurses are less likely to feel respected and less likely to feel safe raising concerns. That matches the four exit interviews that described treatment by senior colleagues.

The scores do not show who is responsible. Item 31 asks about "the people I work with," which includes physicians, other nurses and patient care technicians.

Compared with 2025, the unit's item 12 score fell from 44% to 39%. With 41 respondents, a five-point fall is about two people and could easily be chance. I do not treat it as a trend.

Comments as Counted Themes

Twenty-seven respondents wrote comments. I read each and coded it to one or more themes, then had the day assistant manager code them separately. We agreed on 24 of 27 and settled the other three by discussion.

Eight comments, seven from night nurses, described new nurses being spoken to harshly or left without help at night. Several described the same kind of incident. None named a person, and I have not tried to identify anyone from them.

Linking Scores to What Happened

Three events line up with the scores. First, the night vacancy rose from two to five positions between October 2025 and March 2026, shortly before the survey. Second, four of the nine 2025 hires who left described treatment by senior colleagues at night, and seven of the eight comments on the same theme came from night nurses. Third, in 2024 a night nurse was suspended after a medication error, and several staff still mention it; that may help explain why item 24 is low.

These links are suggestive. A survey and an exit interview are both answered by people with reasons to answer. But when two separate sources point to the same theme, it becomes worth acting on. Laschinger (2014) found that workplace mistreatment of nurses was associated with higher perceived risk to patient safety, which suggests the treatment theme is not only a retention issue.

Comparison With Published Measures

The four items used here are not drawn from a validated instrument. The practice environment scale developed by Lake (2002) would give the unit scores on staffing, manager support and colleague relations that can be compared with published benchmarks, and its staffing subscale has been linked in other work to nurse outcomes such as burnout (Aiken et al., 2002). The unit could add that instrument to next year's survey at low cost, which would let the night problem be measured against other hospitals rather than only against this hospital's average.

What to Act On

Two findings are strong enough to act on: night staffing, which every source supports, and the treatment of new nurses on nights, which the comments, the exit interviews and items 24 and 31 support together. The analysis does not support acting on scheduling yet; it appears in comments from both shifts in similar numbers and was not among the lowest items.

How the Results Were Shared

Before writing this analysis, I showed the day and night results to the unit practice council and asked whether they matched members' experience. Night members said the treatment theme was understated, because new nurses were least likely to answer. Day members were surprised by the size of the gap. The council's reaction is not data, but it confirms the analysis is read the same way by those it describes.

Limits

Agency nurses, who work a fifth of night hours, were not surveyed. Night respondents number 19. One year's survey cannot show a trend.

References

Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., Sloane, D. M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J. H. (2002). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. JAMA, 288(16), 1987-1993. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.16.1987

Lake, E. T. (2002). Development of the practice environment scale of the Nursing Work Index. Research in Nursing & Health, 25(3), 176-188. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.10032

Laschinger, H. K. S. (2014). Impact of workplace mistreatment on patient safety risk and nurse-assessed patient outcomes. Journal of Nursing Administration, 44(5), 284-290. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000068