¶ … Happy on the Job: Is Employment Satisfaction among Saudi Nurses necessary for working Suitably in the Professional Settings and Improved Quality of Healthcare. When it comes to Saudi Arabia, nursing plays a major role in any health care system. Many evidences support the quality of nursing care and patient outcome. Patient interact with nurses more than any other health profession. Improved level of job satisfaction among Saudi nurses will be significant in the delivery of quality healthcare to the patients. Variable such as appropriate wages, effective facilities, healthy environment, professionalism, suitable working hours, and successful management will improve the level of job satisfaction among Saudi nurses. The correlation between impaired job satisfaction levels of nurses will affect their performance in the clinical settings, which will certainly result in the poor quality of healthcare. Thus, job satisfaction among Saudi nurses is necessary for working appropriately in the professional settings and improved quality of healthcare.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Problem Statement 5

Aims and Objectives 6

Research Questions 6

Questions for Nurses 6

Questions for Patients 7

Literature Review 7

Job Satisfaction 7

Reasons for Job Satisfaction 8

Major Consequence of Job Dissatisfaction 9

Nursing Shortage 9

Nurses' Burnout 10

Role of Stress in Job Dissatisfaction 11

Job Dissatisfaction and Quality of Healthcare 12

Job Satisfaction and Improved Healthcare Quality 13

Methodology 15

Study Design 15

Sample Size and Participants 15

Time Frame and Process 16

Ethical Consideration 17

Possible Limitations 17

Results 18

Discussion 18

Recommendations 19

Introduction

Nurses are considered to be one the most important healthcare workers, who are responsible for the delivery of health care. There are strong studies supporting nurses' role in improving patient clinical outcome. It is a fact that nursing professionals should develop necessary skills and capabilities for the proper regulation of healthcare processes. World Health Organization has also identified that nursing professionals are also responsible for improving the quality of life, in relation with the patients (World Health Organization, 2013).

Studies in different health care settings and countries strongly correlate nurse's job satisfaction with decrease turnover, cost effectiveness and high quality of care. Many of other factors include positive and constructive policies of the organization staff education level, leadership, healthy work environment and employee job satisfaction and performance.

Job satisfaction can be defined as a satisfactory feeling regarding the employment and organization. For the purpose of this study, we will explore the impact of job satisfaction on quality care in KSA.

In MOH health care setting, nurses are the largest workforce and interact the most with patients. Their role in health care delivery is a private role.

The WHO has concluded that nurses are also responsible for improving the quality of life in relation with the patients. The Institute of Medicine, define health care quality as a care in safe, effective, efficiency, and care that result in patient satisfaction. It is the goal of every health care facility to provide high quality care, to meet accreditation and credential standard. Health care quality will influence the organizational success (Cimine, 2014).

Problem Statement

Studies have identified that most nurses are not willing to work in unprofessional environments. It is also a fact that job dissatisfaction has resulted in the lack of qualified nursing professionals among the hospitals of Saudi Arabia. Some of the recent statistics have clearly identified that 19.8% of the nursing professionals have left their job because of discontentment on the job (Mitchell, 2009).

Especially in Saudi Arabia, where the governmental authorities and hospital administration are working hard for the implementation of advanced...

However, the level of satisfaction among nursing professionals of Saudi Arabia is extremely low (Mitchell, 2009). Therefore, the quality of healthcare is getting worse on a continuous basis. Majority of the patients are not satisfied with the quality of delivered hospital by nurses. Therefore, it is essential for the healthcare organizations to improve their level of satisfaction among the nursing professionals in order to enhance the quality of healthcare.
Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of nurse's job satisfaction on quality care in KSA

Aims and Objectives

1. Explore the relationship between job satisfaction among nurses, and its impact on healthcare quality in hospitals of Saudi Arabia.

2. To identify factors that affect nurses' job satisfaction.

3. To make recommendations and advice strategies in regards to healthcare quality in KSA through improving nursing satisfaction.

Hypothesis

The higher the level of nurse satisfaction, the more likely the quality of care will be better.

Research Questions

This study will be funded by the following:

Questions for Nurses

Does your organization, care about your professional growth?

Do you consider your work environment healthy?

Are your co-workers supportive?

Do you experience work chronic stress / burnout?

Is your organization providing you with enough wages and facilities to fulfill your basic needs?

Are you satisfied with your job?

Do you want to quit this profession?

Do you feel attracted at work?

Are you pleased with your unit intuitive leadership style?

Questions for Patients

Were the nurses' behavior professional and appropriate?

Did anybody affect your self-esteem?

Did your nurse provide a safe care?

How did you rate the overall quality of care you received?

Are you satisfied with your assigned nurse?

Were you involved in your health care plan?

Literature Review

Job Satisfaction

A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted by Al Juhani & Kishk (2006), which focused on the factor of job satisfaction among the physicians and nursing professionals in the hospitals of Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The study sample included 445 health care providers with response rate of '85.4%. An affective orientation of the healthcare professionals towards their responsibilities is directly associated with the enhanced job satisfaction of the nursing professionals. The study assessed the levels of job satisfaction among the nursing professionals of the Saudi hospitals. The findings of the study mentioned that 67.1% of nursing professionals were not satisfied with working in the hospitals of Madina, a city of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it can be said that most of the nursing professionals were not willing to continue their jobs as a nurses in the clinical settings.

Most of the nursing professionals have declared workload as the leading reason for job dissatisfaction. At the same time, lack of financial rewards was also identified as a major reason for decreased job satisfaction. The study has also shown that the quality of healthcare is continuously getting poor because of displeasure on the job. The nursing professionals did not work properly in the clinical settings because of their increased state of stress. Additionally, the study has shown that depressed mental status of the nursing professionals, further affected the recovery processes of the patients. Therefore, the study has concluded that the factor of job dissatisfaction is affecting the performance of nursing professionals, and quality of healthcare in negative way (Al Juhani & Kishk, 2006).

Reasons for Job Satisfaction

There are various reasons for the decreased level of job dissatisfaction among nursing professionals. The leading reason for the lessened level of job satisfaction is mismanagement or inappropriate hospital management. It is a fact that the nursing professionals require appropriate management for working effectively in the professional settings. Appropriate management of the hospitals will certainly result in the poor performance of nurses. Poor management of hospitals will not develop effective policies, which will affect the performance and satisfaction level of the nursing professionals (Kaur & Malik, 2012).

Stress and burnout are two significant reasons for the increased level of job dissatisfaction. It has been evaluated by various studies that stress and anxiety are responsible for the decreased satisfaction level among nurses which occur daily in the hospital settings. Job insecurity is another leading reason. The insecurity of the job has the capability to influence the mental state and proficiency of nurses. Lack of necessary skills is also considered as a major reason for the increased dissatisfaction among nurses, in relation with their professional responsibilities. It is a fact that lack of required skills among nurses will affect their performance, which will increase the level of dissatisfaction directly (Kaur & Malik, 2012).

An unpleasant co-worker is also identified as a serious reason for increased dissatisfaction among nurses. Impolite behavior among the co-workers will certainly result in the affected performance of the nursing professionals. Violence in the workplace is the final reason, which is closely associated with the increased level of job dissatisfaction. All of these reasons are barriers in the delivery of healthcare (De Milt, Fitzpatrick & McNulty, 2011).

Major Consequence of Job Dissatisfaction

As mentioned by certain studies, it has been evaluated that there are various consequences of job dissatisfaction. However, affected healthcare quality is considered as the most important consequence of job dissatisfaction. The factor of job dissatisfaction will increase the level of stress, anxiety, and burnout among nursing professionals. These minor consequences will affect the performance of nurses in the clinical settings, in relation with the patients. The patients have a close association with the nursing professionals; therefore, the patients will become affected because of inappropriate performance of the nursing professionals. The factor of burnout will also affect the thinking abilities of the nurses, which will influence their decision making abilities (McFarlin, 2014).

Nursing Shortage

Nursing shortage is considered to be the most important consequence of job dissatisfaction all over the world. A mixed study was conducted by Mitchell (2009) in Saudi Arabia, which…