Nursing: Multifaceted Roles and Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction and nurses
• There can be little doubt that nurses form the fabric of medical care.
• They not only play the role of caregiver, but must assume a medley of other roles -including but not limited to technician, waitress and mother.
• They are the front line of surveillance and play the prime element in early detection of potentially life-threatening problems.
• There are no qualms about the fact that nursing as a profession is truly respected.
• Day in and day out, nurses not only take care of a patient's basic needs, they act as the constant pillar of support during difficult times, both physically and emotionally.
• In spite of nursing playing an extremely important they may be the most dissatisfied
• professionals in the

• Job dissatisfaction has been identified as the main factor for nurses leaving the profession earlier than anticipated.
• Approximately 80-85% of hospitals have reported a shortage of nurses.
• By 2020 there will be a 20% shortage in the number of nurses needed in the U.S.
• Hospitals fail to meet the expectations of their employees far more frequently than the employers in other industries.
• Administrators should pay special attention to their most critical personnel and devise tailored solutions for retaining these individuals.
• Healthcare providers are having trouble recruiting and retaining their nursing staff which creates significant cost for hospitals.
• Direct turnover costs are only the tip of the iceberg. In addition, the hidden cost of lost productivity for departing employees.
• Staff turnover not only incurs large costs of hiring & training new employees, but also adversely affects the quality of patient care.
• Inadequate staffing and heavy workloads for nurses impact patient safety. Nurse shortage is the leading cause for medical errors.
• Patients face a 7% greater likelihood of death for every patient above four assigned to a particular

• Hospitals are "being run like a business" with "issues of patient care" of secondary importance." Emotional support, education, encouragement and counseling are integral to the everyday nursing practice.
• However, these practices are not easily quantified and considered by managers as unjustified cost for the patients, who are also viewed as consumers.
• Therefore, only clinical responsibilities, such as medication administration, dressing changes, Foley catheter insertions, and anything that involves tangible supplies, are quantified and incorporated into the organizational budget and plan of care for the consumers.
• If the funds now spent fighting or losing battle to replace disheartened nurses were instead devoted to improving job conditions, it is possible that the nursing shortage could be largely solved and the nations' hospitals might still end up with significant savings.
• The perception is that physicians and hospital administrators often treat nurses as workers, not as clinicians and