Jordanian nurses’ job satisfaction, patients’ satisfaction and quality of nursing care

PURPOSE: To study nurses' job satisfaction, patients' satisfaction, and quality of nursing care in a Jordanian educational hospital. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional comparative design was used. The total populations at the educational hospital where the study was conducted were: 200 nurses (response rate 60%), 510 patients (response rate 49%), and 26 head nurses (NHs) (response rate 92%). Mueller/McCloskey Satisfaction Scale (MMSS) 1990; Eriksen's (1988) scale of The Satisfaction with Nursing Care; and Quality of Nursing Care Questionnaire-Head Nurse of Safford & Schlotfeldt (1960) were used to measure the phenomena of interest. FINDINGS: Nurses were 'neither satisfied nor dissatisfied' in their jobs, nurses who work in wards reported a slightly better job satisfaction than nurses who work in critical care units. Patients reported that they were 'moderately' satisfied, and head nurses reported that nurses 'usually (practically)' provide a high of quality of nursing care. There were no significant differences between critical care units and wards in regard to patients' satisfaction and quality of nursing care. CONCLUSIONS: Jordanian nurses' job satisfaction is on the borderline, which arguably requires more interventions. Patients' satisfaction and quality of nursing care have to be enhanced to reach the levels of 'very satisfied' and 'always' consecutively.