Impact of Work Conditions on Nurse Retention and Patient Safety

Nurses serve a fundamental role in providing excellent health care (Gerard, Owens & Oliver, 2016; Gupta, Agarwal & Khatri, 2016; Moneke & Umeh, 2013; Van Bogaert, van Heusden, Timmermans, & Franck, 2014). However, due to extended work hours, unsupportive managers, and unworkable patient loads, which are all part of the portrayal today’s nurses (Milazzo, 2014) has shown to have an impact on nurse outcomes, quality care, and patient safety (Van Bogaert, Timmermans, Weeks, van Heusden, Wouters & Franck, 2014). With consideration in the retention of nurses, nursing leaders must acknowledge staff’s work satisfaction as an important aspect in preserving the nursing workforce. Hence, a reduced workforce can ultimately have a significant impact

Through a review of the literature, numerous articles reveal that job satisfaction is one of the most frequently deliberated topics in organizational behavior and of great concern among management and leaders globally (Cowden & Cummings, 2012; Chang, 2014; Gellatly, Cowden & Cummings, 2014; Hairr et al., 2014; Hellreigel & Slocum, 2011; Jahrami et al., 2011; Moneke & Umeh, 2013; Rani, Sharma, Sharma & Kumari, 2016; Van Bogaert et al., 2014). Therefore, several definitions of job satisfaction were discovered, one definition is “the feeling of pleasure and achievement that you experience in your job when you know your work is worth doing, or the degree to which your works gives you this feeling” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). This definition is an example of the psychological component to job satisfaction, however, some researchers believe that job satisfaction is more correlated with the employee’s work culture (Roussel, 2013). There is also increasing substantiation in nursing literature with reference to the positive influence of healthy work environments on employee satisfaction, retention, enhanced patient outcomes, and overall organizational performance (Atefi et al., 2014; Gerard, Owens & Oliver, 2016; Hairr et al., 2014; Hellreigel & Slocum, 2011; Van Bogaert et al.,

Further findings indicated a fairly strong, inverse relationship between job satisfaction and nurse retention and organizational commitment (B = 0.353, P = .000) which was the strongest predictor of job satisfaction and “reaffirms the importance of nurse leaders routinely monitoring nurses’ satisfaction and implementing strategies that address the dimensions of job satisfaction” ( p. 206). Moreover, these findings also substantiate the evidence that the more committed nurses are to their organizations, the more effective and productive they are likely to become, thus supporting satisfaction and retention (Moneke & Umeh, 2013). Therefore, nursing leaders must acknowledge and understand the factors surrounding job dissatisfaction and organizational commitment by advocating for their staff in promoting and ensuring a happy and health work environment (Tomajan,