Evaluation of life quality and life quality results of nurses working in Elaziğ city center hospitals

Individuals' biological structures, life styles, relationships with each other, and the values of the environment they live in represent the quality of life. There are many elements that make up the concept of life quality. Health, education, being a social individual, protection, adequate nutrition, environment, opportunity and gender equality, reputation and safety are among the components of life quality. Every component that creates the life quality has its own meaning, and the lack of any component negatively affects the life quality. Life quality when considered conceptually; a measure used to assess treatment effects and determine health status. In addition, the life quality is not only individual but also a social goal. For this reason, quality of life has become a social policy goal that requires social effort and public intervention besides being an aim that only the individual can accomplish with his own efforts. Health personnel are forced to work during hours and days outside normal working hours, work with life-threatening individuals, and face great expectations of families and patients. Due to these conditions, health personnel working under intense stress are affected from a mental point of view and this can adversely affect the life quality. In this research, it was aimed to examine the life quality of nurses covering a wide range of health professionals according to various variables. After receiving the necessary permits, the survey was conducted on nurses working in the hospitals in Elazığ city center on July-September 2014. SF-36 scale was used besides the questions that define the socio-demographic characteristics. Of the health workers participating in the survey, 68.6% are women and 56.8% of those are married and 38.7% are single. 50,1% of the nurses included in the scope of the research have bachelor's degree. 27.0% of the nurses in the study stated that they had a chronic illness. When we compare the subscale groups according to the monthly income level, as the income level falls the perception rate of the individuals in their lives drops too. When we compare the subscale groups according to working hours, the perception of health decreases in nurses with increasing working time. When we compare subscale groups according to childbearing status, health perception scores of participants having no child are higher than other categories. When we compared the subscale scores according to marital status, the scores of the bachelors in all subscales were significantly higher than those of the married ones. The weakest scoring was found in the widows. As a result, in order to increase the life quality of nurses, international and national regulations should be investigated, a new arrangement should be made and time should be allocated to individual's private life while the nurses personal rights should be rectified, nurses shifts and shift periods etc should be reorganized. Keywords: Life Quality, Work in Shifts, Shift System of Nurses