JOB SATISFACTION AMONG DOCTORS AND NURSES

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Author

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Department of Medicine

ABSTRACT
Job satisfaction refers to how well a job provides fulfilment of a need or want or how well it serves as a source or means of enjoyment. The prevalence of dissatisfaction among doctors and nurses has been given considerable importance in recent years as it affects patient satisfaction and leads to reduced quality of care. The quality of performance in health facilities to a large extent depends on whether health care providers are job satisfied or dissatisfied as the work force is one of the most important inputs to any health system and has a strong impact on the performance of health facilities. The objective of this study was to determine the level and factors of job satisfaction among doctors and nurses in F. M. C. Yola. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted involving 58 doctors and 182 nurses. A self administered structured questionnaire was designed using a 5 point Lickert response format ranging from very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied to determine various levels and factors of job satisfaction that relate to 5 domains: the hospital management, hospital facilities, health care providers and pay and benefits. A mark of 1 was awarded for very dissatisfied, 2 for dissatisfied, 3 for neutral, 4 for satisfied and 5 for very satisfied. All scores were added to give aggregate score for each domain and overall and t-test used to test for statistical significance in satisfaction levels between doctors and nurses. A p-value of ? 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Majority of respondents 54.2%, 51.7%.50.0% and 41.7% were satisfied with job security, hours of work, delegation of work by supervisors and degree of autonomy respectively, 22.1% were dissatisfied and 16.7% very dissatisfied with rate of promotion. Factors of highest satisfaction relating to the hospital facilities were the physical working conditions and the physical surrounding. Majority of respondents were satisfied with their profession: 51.7% satisfied and 22.9% very satisfied. Pay and benefits contributed to the highest level of dissatisfaction with 36.7% and 18.3% of respondents being dissatisfied and very dissatisfied respectively with present salaries. Differences in job satisfaction between doctors and nurses relating to the 5 domians showed doctors to be more satisfied with the hospital facilities and nurses more satisfied with pay and benefits, other domains showed no statistical difference in satisfaction levels between doctors and nurses. Overall job satisfaction showed 14.9% to be very satisfied and 42.6%to be satisfied. Most respondent were satisfied with their jobs but only minorities satisfied with their remuneration. Therefore there is a need to address the issue of enhancement of remuneration for doctors and nurses.