BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction significantly influences the quality of patient care. Healthcare staff working with vulnerable patients in tertiary obstetrics and gynaecology hospitals faces specific work challenges and higher expectations from patients. The secondary data analysis from the National Survey of Employee Satisfaction aimed to evaluate job satisfaction and its association with intrinsic and extrinsic factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 385 employees (physicians, nurses, administrative and technical staff) at two tertiary obstetrics and gynaecology hospitals. Data were collected using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire (National Survey of Employee Satisfaction). This single instrument assessed demographic characteristics and 14 factors of the work environment and working conditions. Participants rated their level of satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale, with scores ranging from 1 ('very dissatisfied') to 5 ('very satisfied'). RESULTS: Participants were aged 35-54 years, with nurses comprising the largest proportion of the sample (60.3%). The greatest proportion reported dissatisfaction with their salary (61.8%), while the highest level of satisfaction was reported for work equipment (41.5%). Overall job satisfaction varied across professional categories of employees. Exploratory factor analysis among healthcare professionals identified two underlying dimensions of job satisfaction: extrinsic (hospital-related) and intrinsic (profession-related) factors, which together explained 59% of the total variance. Both factors were significantly associated with overall job satisfaction, with extrinsic factors showing a slightly stronger correlation. CONCLUSION: Improving non-financial incentives (recognition of work, organizational support and workload management) may enhance healthcare staff engagement, communication, staff morale, retention and service quality. Given the identified intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of job satisfaction and their significant association with overall job satisfaction, this empirically derived framework may be used for comparative analyses across different healthcare contexts and may inform the development of more targeted measurement tools and intervention models.
Jelic et al. (Thu,) studied this question.