Description of important aspects of work satisfaction in hospital staff registered nurses

Abstract

The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to determine if there were differences in the perceived importance of six aspects of work satisfaction among Registered nurses (RNs) employed in three different hospitals and in nine different nursing units within those hospitals. Additionally, the aspects of work were ranked repeatedly over a period of several years while a professional practice model was being implemented. The six aspects of work were: pay, autonomy, task requirements, organizational policies, interaction, and professional status. Using a technique of paired comparisons, the six aspects of work were ranked according to mean component weighting coefficients. The results suggest a consistently higher ranking of the importance of pay and autonomy and a consistently lower ranking of task requirements and organizational policies. In general, the rankings by RNs in all hospitals and units were more similar than different. There were few changes over time.