Exploring job satisfaction among nurses at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Rwanda.

Abstract

Background: Job satisfaction is the main aspect performance of the quality of health care delivery to the patients. The Nursing shortage and high turnover are a great concern in many countries. As the problem of shortage of nursing and high turnover rate across the Hospital, it is vital to identify level of job satisfaction, barriers and motivators to job satisfaction. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was utilized. The study was guided by Hertzberg’s dual Factors Motivation theory and hygiene. Sample size of 194 was used and it was calculated by using Yamane’s formula, (Yamane, 1967). The instrument for this study was a structured questionnaire. The adopted instrument measured the job satisfaction among nurses at a Teaching University Hospital in Kigali. Section A represented the demographical data of the sample. Section B consisted of questions that elicited the level of job satisfaction among nurses working in University Teaching Hospital of Rwanda. The level of job satisfaction was measured on a scale of high, moderate and low and this scale was developed by the researcher. Section c contained questions which identified information on motivators of job satisfaction among the nurses. Section D consisted of questions identified the barriers to job satisfaction. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the level of job satisfaction among nurses working in University Teaching Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Furthermore, motivating factors of and barriers to job satisfaction were described. Results: The level of job satisfaction among nurses was high in 8 percent, moderate in 80 percent and low in 12 percent of the participated nurses. Motivators to job satisfaction were short and long term benefits of staff members (medical aid, scholarships for studying), effective communication between the employer and staff members, and availability of food for the night and weekend staff and competency of the supervisors. Identified barriers to job satisfaction were supervisor related, poor interpersonal relationships between staff members, poor remuneration among nurses and employer related barriers. The level of job satisfaction was predominantly low due to barriers experienced among nurses at University Teaching Hospital in Kigali. Conclusion: The level of job satisfaction was predominantly low due to barriers experienced among nurses at University Teaching Hospital in Kigali. Therefore, there was need for in-service training of supervisors and nurses to improvement competencies and interpersonal relationships among them. In addition, the management needs to improve the remuneration of nurses and this improved the care delivery and quality patient care in the hospital.