4 research outputs found
Nursing management at a Swedish university hospital
High turnover rate among nursing staff is a global problem and important
for nurse managers to deal with. In order to help health care leaders to
retain competent staff, it is important to improve the knowledge of the
ways and the extent to which leadership behaviour relates to nurse job
satisfaction and staff turnover. The nurse manager is as the head of the
unit, a leader over part of the health care staff.
The aim was to study the relationship between leadership behaviour of
nurse managers and staff turnover considering creative work climate and
intrinsic factors of job satisfaction.
All four studies were conducted at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm.
At the time of the study the hospital had about 5000 employees working
with nursing care. There were 92 nurse managers and 77 of these were
included. Ten subordinates of each included manager were randomly
selected and invited to participate (n=770). All data for Studies I-III
were collected at the same time in 2003. Leadership behaviour (I) was
studied with a questionnaire called Change, Production and Employee
(CPE). It s relation to creative work climate and job satisfaction was
explored on individual level in study II. Two different questionnaires
regarding creative work climate and job satisfaction were used together
with the data from the CPE instrument. In Study III register data of
actual staff turnover were used together with data from studies I and II.
Analyses were related to each included manager based unit level. Study
IV, conducted in 2004 explored perceptions about staff turnover. Five
focus group discussions included 29 participants (head of departments,
nurse managers and staff) and were con-ducted and the statements analyzed
in order to identify categories of opinions. The categories were related
to register data of actual staff turnover from the hospital follow up
system (PREDO)
The correlation between leadership behaviour and staff turnover was weak
(-.12, Study III). Leadership behaviour of the nurse manager
significantly correlates both on individual (II) and unit level (III) to
creative work climate (.60, Study III) and job satisfaction (.60, Study
III). When controlling for creative work climate the result showed only
weak correlation between leadership behaviour and job satisfaction (.12,
Study II). In turn, there is a relationship between job satisfaction and
staff turnover (-.30, Study III). Three main groups of profiles were
identified, invisible leader, middle of the road (middle) leader and
super leader (I, II). In Study IV four major factors were identified as
having a possible influence on staff turnover: intrinsic values of
motivation , workload , unit size and leadership . Smaller units had
lower staff turnover as well as out patient units and day care.
In this context of nursing the direct relationships between leadership
behaviour, including the dimension of change, and actual staff turnover
was weak. The relationships between leadership behaviour and creative
work climate, between creative work climate and job satisfaction and
between job satisfaction and actual staff turnover indicate that the
nurse manager plays a key role in developing a creative work climate that
might increase nurses job satisfaction and by extension decrease staff
turnover. According to the results it seems easier to achieve group
cohesion, recognition and participation in units where a manager works
close to the staff
Stress and job satisfaction among medical laboratory professionals in Oman: A cross-sectional study
Background: Job satisfaction leads to employees being more productive. However, when the job requirements do not meet the capabilities it will cause stress. Therefore, it is important to define the cause of dissatisfaction to reduce work-induced stress as this has a negative impact on the quality of healthcare services. The literature on stress and satisfaction studying medical laboratory professionals (MLPs) is still limited.The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between stress and job satisfaction factors among MLPs in Omani hospitals, and to quantify a possible correlation between job stress and job satisfaction. Methods: A cross sectional study involved all medical laboratory professionals in eight hospitals in Oman from different geographical areas. A survey instrument measuring job satisfaction was developed from the result of earlier qualitative studies done by the authors in the population of 101 participants. In addition, job stress was assessed using a survey based on the Nurse Stress Index (NSI). Results: The results show a significant statistical association between stress and job satisfaction. Omanis have significantly higher stress scores compared to non-Omani citizens. The youngest MLPs at Omani Hospitals were less satisfied at work and more stressed than their older colleagues. Job satisfaction was lower and job stress higher in the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital than in all the other hospitals. The most important dissatisfaction factors, leading to job stress, are insufficient support for professional development, poor relations with supervisors and co-workers, as well as heavy workload. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the importance of investing in measures to meet the expectations of laboratory staff, to strengthen factors that increase satisfaction and eliminate dissatisfaction factors. It gives concrete advice on what those measures should be and, consequently, guides actions on improving the work environment in medical laboratories. When implemented those would reduce job stress among medical laboratory professionals in Oman, and, possibly, more widely