An Investigation of Nurses’ Job Satisfaction in a Private Hospital and Its Correlates

BACKGROUND: Nurses' job satisfaction and job stress are important issues regarding their turnovers. While there are some recent descriptive studies on job satisfaction in public hospitals, very limited research was found on this topic in private hospital setting. It is worth to examine the job satisfaction of nurses and its correlates in such a specific hospital context in Hong Kong, by which the findings can be compared with those in public hospitals, and across countries. AIMS: To investigate nurses' job satisfaction, job stress and intention to quit of nurses in a private hospital, and the correlates of the nurses' job satisfaction. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, descriptive survey study was conducted. METHODS: By using stratified random sampling in terms of nature of wards/units and working ranks, 139 full-time nurses who were working in the 400-bed private hospital for at least 6 months and provided direct nursing care were recruited in this study. Data were collected by employing a set of self-administered structured questionnaires, consisting of the Index of Work Satisfaction (job satisfaction), Anxiety-Stress Questionnaire (job stress), Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire (intention to quit), and socio-demographic data. RESULTS: With a response rate of 74.3%, the results of the 139 respondents showed that the nurses in the private hospital had an overall moderate level of satisfaction with their work and rated the professional status as the highest satisfied domain. The nurses also reported moderate levels of job stress and intention to quit. The nurses' job satisfaction was negatively correlated with their job stress and intention to quit; whereas, the nurses' job stress was positively correlated with their intention to quit. The nurses with older in age and more post-registration experience and/or working experience in the private hospital indicated a higher level of job satisfaction, particularly with 'Pay' and 'Autonomy'. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the nurses in the private hospital are moderately stressful and satisfied with their work environment and relationships. A few socio-demographic characteristics of these nurses such as their age and years of clinical experiences were associated with their levels of job satisfaction and/or stress. The findings provided information for private hospitals and healthcare organizations about the need and areas for improvement of nurse's job satisfaction, thus strengthening their recruitment and retention.