Writing about why your work matters helped nurses assemble more kits

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   138 nurses recently hired by a local health authority in Italy, all in mandatory training. Average age was about 27 to 29 across the groups, and most were women.

2. 02

   What they did

   Every group made surgical kits for three hours after a tutorial video. Some groups also heard a 15-minute speech from the hospital director, and some met a former patient for 15 minutes. Two groups spent 30 minutes writing why their work mattered and listing arguments to get other hospitals to join.

3. 03

   What happened

   Against about 38 kits for the tutorial-only group, the essay group assembled about 46 and the patient-meeting group about 47. The speech alone gave about 43, a gain that is not clearly different from the tutorial-only group. Adding the speech to the essay or the meeting gave about 63 to 65 kits.

What the study found

1. Helped

   Writing why your work matters, and making the case for it, got more kits done than the tutorial-only group.

   • Action: List the benefits of finishingtested
   • Action: Give advice to someone facing the same challengetested

   Randomised trial of 138 138 nurses at public hospitals in Italy · vs the group that only watched the tutorial · behaviour was recorded

2. Helped

   Meeting a former patient helped nurses make more kits than the tutorial-only group.

   • Rule: Meet the people your work helpstested

   Randomised trial of 138 138 nurses at public hospitals in Italy · vs the group that only watched the tutorial · behaviour was recorded

Source