An Omani study has found that job satisfaction and improved conditions had a significant impact on the retention rates of nursing staff and the quality of care that they provide.
The study, conducted out of the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, sampled 207 nurses who had worked at a metropolitan hospital for over a year. They were surveyed on their job satisfaction, burnout, participation in hospital affairs and turnover intention, as well as the staffing adequacy and quality of care provided at the hospital.
The authors found that job satisfaction rates were heavily influenced by a nurse’s ability to participate in hospital affairs and by improved working conditions. These conditions included adequate staffing and a safe work environment.
Where job satisfaction rates were higher, the authors found a higher number of staff were keen to remain at their place of work. Further, they found that higher job satisfaction rates affected the quality of care that nursing staff perceived they provided.
In contrast, nurses who reported unsafe work environments, lack of employee consultation and large periods of unsafe staffing were also more likely to report of burnout, low job satisfaction and a desire to leave the hospital.
The study’s authors recommended that “organizational strategies are needed to increase nurse job satisfaction to reduce turnover intention and enhance the quality of patient care.”
This study was the first study of its kind based in Oman, and only the third to study the effects of job satisfaction and nurse turnover in the Middle East.
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