Background: Work engagement is the key to hospitals efforts to retain nurses and mitigate
future nursing shortages through reducing moral distress and applying critical reflective
practice to enhance nursing career. Aim of the study: was to assess nurses' work
engagement, moral distress and critical reflective practice among nursing personnel in
intensive care units at Zagazig University Hospitals. Subjects & methods: Research
design: A descriptive correlation design carried out this study. Setting: The present study
was conducted in the Emergency Hospital with an Intensive Care Casualty Unit of 15 beds;
and the New Surgical Hospital with a surgical Intensive Care Unit with 24 beds, at Zagazig
University Hospitals. Subjects: the present study includes convenience staff nurses (n=124),
70 of staff nurses were from surgical intensive care unit, and 54 of them from the intensive
casualty unit. Tools of data collection: by using a questionnaire sheet for nurses composed
of four parts, Personnel characteristics sheet, The Utrecht work engagement scale, Moral
distress scale of nurses and Critical Reflective Practice Questionnaire. Results: The majority
of nurses (83.9%) were having high level of work engagement while most of them (96.8%)
were level of they have higher critical reflective practice and most of them (92.7%) were
having low level of moral distress with their work. Conclusion: There was a statistically
significant relation between nurses' work engagement and their critical reflective practice,
while there was no statistically significant relation between nurses' work engagement and
their moral distress. As well, there was no statistically significant relation between nurses'
critical reflective practice and their moral distress. Recommendations: Develop job
description for nurses work in intensive care units and new performance appraisal tool,
establish guidelines/protocols to address ethical issues, involve staff members in the
development of organizational policies and guidelines, establish a journal for nurses and
advocate for increased nursing education funding