Nurses and Job Satisfaction

There are many different factors which influence the level of job satisfaction for nurses. Included in those factors are the nurses’ perceptions regarding management and working conditions, the adequacy of staffing levels within their unit, their perceptions regarding level of teamwork exhibited by the staff, and the respective nurse’s practice area. Each of these may serve to either increase or decrease the overall level of satisfaction experienced by the nursing staff.

For many nurses, particularly those working in nursing teams on acute care patient units, the level of satisfaction experienced by these nurses directly correlates back to their perceptions regarding what is described as the “adequacy of staffing” (Kalisch, Lee & Rochman, 2010, p. 939). However, this perception is highly subjective, and is affected by other factors such as the nurse’s age, gender, relative level of autonomy and skill set (Kalisch et al., 2010, p. 939). Another factor affecting the level of a nurse’s satisfaction is the amount of teamwork exercised by nurses within the unit (Kalisch et al., 2010, p. 939). As discussed by Kalisch et al. (2010), the greater the level of cohesion that a nurse perceives exists within the unit, the higher their individual level of satisfaction (p. 939). Lastly, another factor which contributes to the level of satisfaction is the type of unit in which a nurse provides patient care. For example, nurses working in the emergency room were reportedly more satisfied than nurses working in other patient care units (Kalisch et al, 2010, p. 943). Interestingly, previous studies found that Intensive Care Unit nurses were more satisfied than other nurses (Kangas, Kee & McKee-Waddle, 1999, p. 32). This implies that the nurse’s satisfaction may also change as the field of medicine itself changes.

The results of this study have significant implications in the nursing field. In order to improve the levels of nursing satisfaction, hospital administration should consider making significant changes within their units. Possible solutions to this problem would include working with nursing staff to identify shortages in staffing, offering career development and training programs to increase teamwork, and providing nurses with the ability to make employment shifts if they are unhappy in their current areas.

References

Kalisch, B.J., Lee, H., & Rochman, M. (2010). Nursing staff teamwork and job satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(8), 938-947.

Kangas S., Kee C.C., & McKee-Waddle R. (1999) Organizational factors, nurses’ job satisfaction, and patient satisfaction with nursing care. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 29 (1), 32.