Job satisfaction and related factors of nurses in university hospitals: Focusing on collaborative competency factors

Abstract

AIM: This study aimed to clarify the association between nurses' job satisfaction, interprofessional collaborative competency and other related factors in university hospitals in Japan. BACKGROUND: Enhancing a team's function in the university hospital setting requires strengthening each professional's competency: high-level professional competency leads to high job satisfaction. METHODS: In 2014, self-administered questionnaires were sent to all nurses working at two university hospitals in Japan. A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the relationship between job satisfaction as the response variable and interprofessional collaborative competency and other variables as the independent variables. RESULTS: Data from 913 nurses were used in the present analysis (response rate: 60.4%). Two factors from the Chiba Interprofessional Competency Scale 29 (factor 1: attitudes and beliefs as a professional; factor 5: attitudes and behaviours that improve team cohesion) and opportunities for information exchange with other professionals outside the hospital had significant relationships with job satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Strengthening interprofessional collaborative competency and increasing opportunities for information exchange with professionals outside the hospital would improve nurses' job satisfaction in university hospitals. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Interprofessional collaborative competency and opportunities for information exchange with other professionals are worth the attention of nursing administrators.