Job satisfaction, burnout, and stress among pediatric nurses in various specialty units at an acute care hospital

Abstract

Aims: The aims of the study were to: assess job satisfaction, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and work-related stress among pediatric nurses at surgical, medical, critical care, and hematology/oncology units in a tertiary acute care hospital; and identify the predictors of job satisfaction, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and work-related stress.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a children’s hospital in southern California from February 2013 to March 2013. A convenience sample of registered nurses working in four different units (N = 240) completed the Professional Quality of Life, Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction, and demographic questionnaire. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and simultaneous multiple regression procedures were performed.

Results: Nurses in the hematology/oncology unit reported the lowest level of burnout and highest levels of job satisfaction and compassion satisfaction. In contrast, nurses in the surgical unit reported the opposite. Among surgical unit nurses, those with 5-9 years of RN experience reported highest burnout as well as lowest job satisfaction and compassion satisfaction. The combination of demographic variables explained a large fraction of the variance in job satisfaction (R² = 0.251) and positive predictors were white ethnicity (β = 0.33) and hematology/oncology unit (β = 0.16), whereas negative predictors were surgical unit (β = -0.32) and critical care unit (β = -0.20).

Conclusions: Nurses in the hematology/oncology unit reported lowest burnout and highest job satisfaction, which may be due to the educational and mentoring support from a unit-based end-of-life care program. A focused strategy targeting a specific group of nurses in a unit may help to reduce work-related stress and burnout.