Intra-Organizational Communication Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses

Purpose:

In an era of resource limitation, nursing effectiveness is an important goal, hampered by  shortage and high turnover rate of nurses. One critical factor impacting job satisfaction and nurses’ turnover is effective internal communication. Despite an increased emphasis on communication skills, communication deficiencies remain a frequent cause of reduced patient safety.

The aim of the present study was to explore the possible relationships between communication satisfaction on the one hand, and job satisfaction, intention to leave and burn-out on the other, among nurses in Belgian hospitals. 

Methods:

Nurses of three Flemish hospitals were asked to participate in a multicentre study. Participants were asked to fill in the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), (which was first translated into Dutch and validated by a factor analysis), the Dutch version of the scale ‘Turnover intention’ of the VBBA (Questionnaire on the experience and evaluation of labour) and the Dutch version of Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). To measure job satisfaction, a visual analogue scale was used. Data are reported as numbers (%) or as mean (± standard deviation, SD). Statistical tests are performed as appropriate.

Results:

A total of 1455 participants filled in the questionnaires. The aggregated response rate for the three hospitals is 43.2% (1455/3371). The majority is female (87.0%), and the mean age is 40.23 years (SD ±10.99). Most of the participants are  ward nurses (87,9%) and 64% have a bachelor degree.The other (12,1%) are nurses in management positions. The average work experience is 17.09 years (SD ±11.20). More than half of the participants works full-time and 22.4% 80%

Within the total group, mean job satisfaction is 7.49 (SD ± 1.43).

A total of 103/1436 (7.2%) nurses have a score ≤ 5. Dissatisfaction (score ≤ 5) is associated    with the type of department the nurses work in. Significantly more nurses working in outpatient departments are dissatisfied as compared to the other departments (p = 0.012). Secondly, more nurses working part-time are dissatisfied than full-time nurses (p = 0.004). Third, there is an association between job dissatisfaction and years of experience. Dissatisfied nurses have significantly more years of experience (p = 0.026).

Nurses are most satisfied with the extent to which their supervisor trusts them (2.59 ± 1.24) and least satisfied with information on the organization’s financial standing and accomplishments and/or failures of the organization (4.09 ± 1.25 and 4.09 ± 1.20), as measured by the CSQ.

Overall, most nurses have a low turnover intention (811/1355; 59.9%), one third (451/1355; 33.3%) an average turnover intention and 6.9% (93/1355) a high turnover intention.

Among all participants, 41/1454 (2.9%) have a score on the Maslach Burnout Inventory indicative for burn-out. No significant differences could be found between the hospitals (p = 0.148).

Within the burnout inventory 21.9% (313/1430) of the nurses have low scores on the subscale ‘Personal accomplishment’. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are less frequently problematic (18/1430; 12.4% and 153/1432, 10.7%, respectively).

Correlational analyses demonstrated significant associations between all dimensions of communication satisfaction and job satisfaction (p<0.001). Low scores on all dimensions of communication satisfaction, except for ‘relationship with employees’ (p = 0.225), were associated with higher turnover intention (p< 0.001) and indications for burn-out (p< 0.001).

Conclusion:

This is the first study to report on communication satisfaction in healthcare. Communication satisfaction is positively associated with job satisfaction and negatively with turnover intention and burn-out in Belgian hospital nurses. The findings may support the need for appropriate management interventions to enhance efficient communication in order to provide high-quality care and patient safety.