Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of both nurse/physician communication and the practice environment on nursing job satisfaction. Considerable research in the outcome of nursing job satisfaction has not yielded solutions to the ongoing problem of nursing dissatisfaction. Processes that link organizational structures, such as the practice environment, to nurse outcomes are poorly understood. The practice environment has been shown to have a stronger relationship to job satisfaction than personal variables such as age, experience, and length of tenure in the organization, suggesting a link between the work environment and job satisfaction. Nurse-physician communication, as a nursing process, has also been shown to contribute to nursing job satisfaction. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: The Nursing Role Effectiveness Model (NREM) was developed as a way of explaining how nurses’ roles (processes), as they are practiced in complex healthcare systems, could contribute to patient outcomes such as patient safety, and nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction The NREM maintains that organizational structural variables influence nursing processes and outcome variables. Nursing processes, in turn, further influence outcome variables on their own. Subjects: A random sample of 500 acute care nurses was drawn from a list provided by the Michigan Nurses Association. IRB approval has been given. Method: A non-experimental survey design is being used. Reliable and valid instruments include measures of the practice environment (Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire and the Practice Environment Scale), communication (ICU Nurse-Physician Questionnaire) and job satisfaction (the Index of Work Satisfaction and a global satisfaction score). Path analysis will be used to test simultaneously direct and indirect hypothesized relationships, reflecting the complex interaction of variables that predict job satisfaction. Results should shed more light on the determinants of nursing job satisfaction, and lead to strategies to develop satisfied nurses in the hospital environment.
Session #1219 - Poster Session I
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)