The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Job satisfaction trends during nurses' early career

Job satisfaction trends during nurses' early career
Job satisfaction trends during nurses' early career
Background
Job satisfaction is an important component of nurses' lives that can impact on patient safety, productivity and performance, quality of care, retention and turnover, commitment to the organisation and the profession. Little is known about job satisfaction in early career and how it varies for different groups of nurses. This paper investigates how the components of job satisfaction vary during early career in newly qualified UK nurses.

Methods
Nurses were sampled using a combined census and multi-stage approach (n = 3962). Data were collected by questionnaire at 6 months, 18 months and 3 years after qualification between 1998 and 2001. Scores were calculated for seven job satisfaction components and a single item that measured satisfaction with pay. Scores were compared longitudinally and between nursing speciality (general, children's, mental health) using a mixed model approach.

Results
No single pattern across time emerged. Trends varied by branch and job satisfaction component. Rank order of job satisfaction components, from high to low scores, was very similar for adult and child branch nurses and different for mental health. Nurses were least satisfied with pay and most satisfied with relationships at 6 and 18 months and with resources (adult and child) and relationships (mental health) at 3 years. Trends were typically upwards for adult branch nurses, varied for children's nurses and downwards for mental health nurses.

Conclusion
The impact of time on job satisfaction in early career is highly dependent on specialism. Different contexts, settings and organisational settings lead to varying experiences. Future research should focus on understanding the relationships between job characteristics and the components of job satisfaction rather than job satisfaction as a unitary construct. Research that further investigates the benefits of a formal one year preceptorship or probationary period is needed.
1472-6955
Murrells, Trevor
9a57589a-d893-415c-8c3d-8b25d052f42c
Robinson, Sarah
98c11811-e2f2-4cce-afe8-b68376668087
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Murrells, Trevor
9a57589a-d893-415c-8c3d-8b25d052f42c
Robinson, Sarah
98c11811-e2f2-4cce-afe8-b68376668087
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b

Murrells, Trevor, Robinson, Sarah and Griffiths, Peter (2008) Job satisfaction trends during nurses' early career. BMC Nursing, 7 (7). (doi:10.1186/1472-6955-7-7). (PMID:18534023)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background
Job satisfaction is an important component of nurses' lives that can impact on patient safety, productivity and performance, quality of care, retention and turnover, commitment to the organisation and the profession. Little is known about job satisfaction in early career and how it varies for different groups of nurses. This paper investigates how the components of job satisfaction vary during early career in newly qualified UK nurses.

Methods
Nurses were sampled using a combined census and multi-stage approach (n = 3962). Data were collected by questionnaire at 6 months, 18 months and 3 years after qualification between 1998 and 2001. Scores were calculated for seven job satisfaction components and a single item that measured satisfaction with pay. Scores were compared longitudinally and between nursing speciality (general, children's, mental health) using a mixed model approach.

Results
No single pattern across time emerged. Trends varied by branch and job satisfaction component. Rank order of job satisfaction components, from high to low scores, was very similar for adult and child branch nurses and different for mental health. Nurses were least satisfied with pay and most satisfied with relationships at 6 and 18 months and with resources (adult and child) and relationships (mental health) at 3 years. Trends were typically upwards for adult branch nurses, varied for children's nurses and downwards for mental health nurses.

Conclusion
The impact of time on job satisfaction in early career is highly dependent on specialism. Different contexts, settings and organisational settings lead to varying experiences. Future research should focus on understanding the relationships between job characteristics and the components of job satisfaction rather than job satisfaction as a unitary construct. Research that further investigates the benefits of a formal one year preceptorship or probationary period is needed.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 168065
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/168065
ISSN: 1472-6955
PURE UUID: f95c7807-81cf-40a4-8222-d64ec42f428e
ORCID for Peter Griffiths: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-2857

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 24 Nov 2010 09:34
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:56

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Trevor Murrells
Author: Sarah Robinson
Author: Peter Griffiths ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×