Job satisfaction and career intentions of registered nurses in primary health care: an integrative review
Open Access
- 7 August 2018
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Family Practice
- Vol. 19 (1), 1-14
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0819-1
Abstract
There has been a significant growth of the international primary health care (PHC) nursing workforce in recent decades in response to health system reform. However, there has been limited attention paid to strategic workforce growth and evaluation of workforce issues in this setting. Understanding issues like job satisfaction and career intentions are essential to building capacity and skill mix within the workforce. This review sought to explore the literature around job satisfaction and career intentions of registered nurses working in PHC. An integrative review was conducted. Electronic databases including: CINAHL, MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science, and reference lists of journal publications were searched for peer-reviewed literature published between 2000 and 2016 related to registered nurse job satisfaction and career intentions. Study quality was appraised, before thematic analysis was undertaken to synthesise the findings. Twenty papers were included in this review. Levels of job satisfaction reported were variable between studies. A range of factors impacted on job satisfaction. Whilst there was agreement on the impact of some factors, there was a lack of consistency between studies on other factors. Four of the six studies which reported career intentions identified that nearly half of their participants intended to leave their current position. This review identifies gaps in our understanding of job satisfaction and career intentions in PHC nurses. With the growth of the PHC nursing workforce internationally, there is a need for robust, longitudinal workforce research to ensure that employment in this setting is satisfying and that skilled nurses are retained.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Workplace empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction: a systematic literature reviewJournal of Nursing Management, 2013
- The relationship between quality of work life and turnover intention of primary health care nurses in Saudi ArabiaBMC Health Services Research, 2012
- Job satisfaction among hospital nurses revisited: A systematic reviewInternational Journal of Nursing Studies, 2011
- Job Satisfaction in Rural Public Health NursesJournal of Public Health Management & Practice, 2010
- Practice nurses' workload, career intentions and the impact of professional isolation: A cross-sectional surveyBMC Nursing, 2010
- A ward without walls? District nurses’ perceptions of their workload management priorities and job satisfactionJournal of Clinical Nursing, 2008
- Nurses’ leaving intentions: antecedents and mediating factorsJournal of Advanced Nursing, 2008
- Cardiovascular disease management: time to advance the practice nurse role?Australian Health Review, 2008
- A STUDY OF SCHOOL NURSE JOB SATISFACTIONThe Journal of School Nursing, 2004