Effects of work environments on satisfaction of nurses working for integrated care system in South Korea: a multisite cross-sectional investigation

Abstract

Background: Nurses’ satisfaction has an impact on organizational and patient outcomes. Integrated care system in South Korea was established in 2015 to improve care quality and decrease caregiving burden. Since then, nurses’ satisfaction has increased due to an increase in nursing staffing. However, besides nurse staffing, various work environments still affect nurse satisfaction.

Methods: Individual online surveys were conducted with participants to determine their personal characteristics, work environments, and hospital characteristics. We used mixed-effects linear regression equation contained both fixed and random effects.

Results: This study included 2,913 nurses from 119 hospitals. Their average job satisfaction was less than 6 points out of 10 points. Age, shift type, perceived workload, and delegation criteria were significant factors influencing nurses’ satisfaction. There was no significant factor among hospital characteristics. The satisfaction level of nurses was high for no-night rotating shift, low perceived workload, and clear delegation criteria.

Conclusions: Nurses’ satisfaction is affected by several work environmental factors. Low nurse satisfaction has a substantial impact on both patients and nurses. Therefore, nurse managers and hospitals should determine factors influencing their satisfaction and develop strategies to improve their satisfaction.