Job satisfaction in the head nurse role

Understanding how nurse managers see their role in supporting ICU nurse well-being-A case study

AIM

To explore how nurse managers perceive and experience their role in supporting the well-being of intensive care nurses.

BACKGROUND

While it is known that nurse manager behaviours affect nurse well-being, literature indicates that intensive care nurses may not receive the support they require. Understanding how nurse managers see their role in supporting nurse well-being is crucial to offer recommendations for improvement.

METHODS

Qualitative multiple case study design. Twelve semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with nurse managers from Australian intensive care unit settings. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Nurse manages felt unsure about what their supportive role involved, lacked training on how to support nurse well-being and called for organisational backup to carry out their role effectively. The study also provided insight into the strategies that enabled nurse managers to support nurse well-being.

CONCLUSION

There is currently no consensus on the role of the nurse manager in supporting nurse well-being resulting in inconsistencies and wide practice variations. Furthermore, nurse managers need support and training if they are required to support nurse well-being.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

A clear definition of the nurse manager supportive role describing the purpose and core functions involved in this role must be developed to support nurse well-being.

Nurse-physician collaborative relationship on nurses' self-perceived job satisfaction in ambulatory care

The dynamic restructuring of the healthcare environment from a primary acute care focus to an ambulatory care focus has prompted a migration of nurses to the ambulatory care setting. The predication of nursing job satisfaction is a complex process that has received little attention in the ambulatory care setting. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between the nurse-physician relationship and nurses' self-perceived job satisfaction in the ambulatory care setting. While study findings demonstrated there was no significant relationship between the nurse-physician relationship and nurses' self-perceived job satisfaction in the ambulatory care setting, it did confirm that registered nurses working in the ambulatory setting have a moderate level of job satisfaction. The lack of correlation between the nurse-physician relationship and job satisfaction may have been attributed to limitations such as a limited sample size and the nurses having a relationship with a smaller number of physicians in the ambulatory care setting. Recommendations to further understanding of the nurse-physician relationship included further descriptive studies of nurses working in the ambulatory care setting and further studies on job satisfaction of nurses.