Study On The Relationship Between Head Nurses’ Career Plateau And Job Satisfaction In The Integrated Third-grade Class-A Hospital

ObjectiveTo investigate the current status of head nurses’ career plateau and job satisfaction in the third-grade class-A hospital,to clarify the differences of them in the general population characteristics,and to analyze the relationship head nurses’ career plateau and job satisfaction,in hoping to provide reference to hospital leaders and nursing managers for head nurses’ managing in the third-grade class-A hospital.MethodsA total of 206 head nurses were recruited from June to August in 2014 by two-stage cluster sampling method from 4 third-grade class-A hospitals in Nanchang.They were investigated with head nurses’ personal information questionnaire, Career Plateau Questionnaire and Head Nurses’ Job Satisfaction Scale.The data collected was analyzed by SPSS19.0,statistical methods including descriptive analysis,t-test,one-way ANOVA,LSD-t test,Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression.Results1.The total average score of the third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ career plateau was(2.12±0.53)points,and the dimension scores from high to low in turn were hierarchical plateau(3.30±0.85)points,centralized plateau(2.17±0.65)points and content plateau(1.78±0.55)points.2.The total average score of the third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ job satisfaction was(3.50±0.37)points,and the dimension scores from high to low in turn were relationship with colleagues(4.32±0.45)points,work to be recognized( 4.04±0.60) points,balance between family and work( 3.92±0.74)points,management( 3.82±0.55) points,personal growth and development(3.68±0.62)points,salary and welfare(3.17±1.13)points,work itself(2.85±0.52)points and workload(2.83±0.41)points.3.Head nurses’ career plateau scores of different ages,working time,managingtime,working departments,first degree and children ages were statistically different(P<0.05). Head nurses’ job satisfaction scores of different worked departments,further education times and martial status were statistically different(P<0.05).4.The third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ career plateau was significant negatively related to their job satisfaction(r=-0.525,P<0.01).5.Regression analysis showed that factors affecting the job satisfaction of head nurses were worked departments,further education times,martial status,content plateau and hierarchical plateau.After controlling for the demographic variables,the overall state of career plateau could explain 31.3% for the variances of job satisfaction respectively.Conclusions:1.The third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ career plateau level was in latent plateau.Among the 3 dimensions,hierarchical plateau had been in career plateau,centralized plateau had been in latent plateau,and content plateau was in good condition.2.The third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ job satisfaction level was in middle.Among the 8 dimensions,relationship with colleagues and work to be recognized were in better condition,but workload and work itself were in worse condition.However,head nurses’ satisfaction with balance between family and work,management,personal growth and development and salary and welfare were in general level.3.The factors that affected the third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ career plateau were ages,working time,managing time,working departments,first degree and children ages.4.The factors that affected the third-grade class-A hospital head nurses’ job satisfaction were worked departments,further education times and martial status.5.In the third-grade class-A hospital,the higher head nurses’ career plateau,the worse their job satisfaction.Hospital leaders and nursing administrators should pay attention to the head nurses’ career plateau status,optimizes the allocation of nursing human resources, adjust the head nurses’ job content to reduce their workload,also improve their benefits.Besides,masters have to set up reasonable nursing managingstructure in order to meet some head nurses’ promotion demand,in hoping to improve head nurses’ job satisfaction and ensure the nursing quality in the hospital.