Work satisfaction among California registered nurses: a longitudinal comparative analysis

California's minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratio law, the nation's first, was implemented in 2004. This study had two aims: (a) to evaluate the effect of the nurse-to-patient ratios law on nurse job satisfaction in order to advance the debate over the merits of nurse staffing law, and (b) to compare California nurses who were satisfied against those who were not, in order to facilitate the development targeted retention interventions based on empirical evidence. The sample's overall job satisfaction increased significantly as the years passed, suggesting the nurse-to-patient ratios law was associated with improvements in nurse satisfaction. Satisfied RNs were more likely to have a balanced and financially secure life that included a partner, children living at home, higher hourly wages, and higher income from sources other than a nursing job. Nurses working in direct patient care positions remained dissatisfied in larger proportions than those working in other types of positions, even after the nurse-to-patient ratios were implemented. More nurses are satisfied today than before the ratios; nevertheless, far too many nurses (18.5%) have job satisfaction scores that are neutral or worse.     

Job satisfaction and quit intentions of offshore workers in the UK North Sea oil and gas industry

The North Sea oil and gas industry currently faces recruitment and retention difficulties because of a shortage of skilled workers. One means of retaining existing employees is to improve workers’ job satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the determinants of job satisfaction and intentions to quit within this industry sector. We find that individuals in good financial situations, those whose skills are closely related to their job and those who received training reported higher levels of job satisfaction. Furthermore, we establish the importance of job satisfaction, promotion prospects and training opportunities in determining workers’ intentions to quit their job.     

“严”师出“高”徒？导师完美主义对徒弟创造力的双元影响路径

师徒关系正在成为被制造业企业广泛开发的关键人力资源关系，导师人格特质会对徒弟日常工作态度和行为塑造产生关键作用。基于压力源-应变关系的理论观点，具体探讨了师徒关系中导师完美主义特质对徒弟创造力的双元影响路径和适用情境，基于制造企业中342对师徒样本进行实证检验，得出以下结论：①导师完美主义特质正向影响工作倦怠,工作倦怠负向影响徒弟创造力,导师完美主义通过工作倦怠负向作用于徒弟创造力；②导师完美主义对工作重塑行为产生积极影响,徒弟的工作重塑行为正向影响其创造力,导师完美主义通过工作重塑行为正向作用于徒弟创造力；③工作倦怠/工作重塑对导师完美主义和徒弟创造力间关系的中介作用，均受到促进性焦点的调节。     

Preceptors for non-clinical employees: extending the value

Although preceptors have been utilized for many years to orient nurses, non-clinical employees have not had the benefit of having consistent, competent, standardized guidance during their orientation period. A preceptorship program was implemented in Ambulatory Care Services for non-clinical employees to improve the orientation experience and to make new employees feel valued. The preceptor program was designed to standardize the information given and skills taught, to increase competence in all job tasks, to assure completion of orientation documents, to reduce staff turnover and increase job satisfaction, and to reduce orientation costs to the organization. Many improvements have been realized related to these goals, including improved staff satisfaction and reduced turnover.     

Factors influencing work productivity and intent to stay in nursing

The researchers document the individual and workplace characteristics associated with decreased work productivity and intent to stay in nursing for nurses employed in direct patient care in the hospital setting. Factors associated with decreased work productivity were age, total years worked as a RN, quality of care provided, job stress score, having had a job injury, and having a health problem. Nurse leaders must place additional efforts on changes needed to improve the hospital workplace environment to decrease job stress, improve RNs' ability to provide quality care, and to assure the health and safety of nurses. Reducing job stress and providing adequate staffing so quality of care can be provided will enhance job satisfaction which will also encourage RNs to stay at the bedside. Improved work environments may delay older RNs' retirement from the workforce.     

Job preferences of students and new graduates in nursing

This article investigates the preferences of student and newly graduated nurses for pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of nursing jobs. It is the first study applying methods based on discrete choice experiments to a developed country nursing workforce. It is also the first to focus on the transition through university training and into work. This is particularly important as junior nurses have the lowest retention levels in the profession. We sample 526 individuals from nursing programmes in two Australian universities. Flexible and newly developed models combining heteroscedasticity with unobserved heterogeneity in scale and preference weights are estimated. Overall, salary remains the most important feature in increasing the probability that a job will be selected. ‘Supportive management/staff’ and ‘quality of care’ follow as the most important attributes from a list of 11 nonpecuniary characteristics. However, the subset of new graduates rank ‘supportive management/staff’ above salary increases, emphasizing the importance of a supportive workplace in the transition from university to the workplace. We find substantial preference heterogeneity and some attributes, such as the opportunity for clinical rotations, are found to be attractive to some nurses while seen as negative by others. Nursing retention could be improved by designing different employment packages to appeal to these different tastes.     

Using a balanced scorecard to improve the performance of an emergency department

The performance of the emergency department significantly improved after implementing the balanced scorecard including hours of continuing education attended by the staff, staff job satisfaction, the rate of incomplete laboratory tests within 30 minutes, the average monthly inappropriate return rate, and hospital profit. The results can assist administrators plan for the future. Although this was a pilot program for implementing a balanced scorecard in an emergency department, the indicators used in this study may also be reasonable for a hospital that has limited resources.     

阶级的言说和改造——劳心与劳力、性别与阶级之二

大多数雇佣家政工的专业人士和其他精英群体一方面希望保持自己的阶级优越感，另一方面也认可社会流动。开明的雇主们认识到“合适的”雇佣关系需要培训外来家政工的新的主体，才能最大程度调动她们的劳动积极性和情感劳动付出。从这个意义上说，提高素质的概念，既是一个作用于每个个体的社会流动的话语，又是一个阶级在日常生活实践中向另一个阶级言说、对这个阶级施加作用的支配过程。除了阶级问题之外，雇佣家务劳动中的性别问题仍然存在，那些可以依靠性别替身来解决家务问题的职业妇女也仍然没能从话语中解放出来。任何对家务劳动价值的严肃讨论都必须正视家务劳动的社会价值，并且通过性别问题和阶级问题的关联来寻求解放性的方案。     

California regional registered nurse workforce forecast

OBJECTIVE: To forecast the shortage of registered nurses (RNs) of the 24 Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSA) and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in California. BACKGROUND: A nursing shortage prevails nationally and is most serious in the state of California. Successful interventions in the alleviation of the RN shortage will require effective resource allocation and academic program development in various regions throughout the state. While various published studies have focused on nursing workforce development at the state and even regional levels, there are no studies focused on identifying RN shortages at the PMSA or MSA (P/MSA) level. In this report, a forecasting model is developed to systematically analyze the future supply and demand of the RN workforce within each California P/MSA. METHODS: Using accessible public databases, forecasting models were constructed to project the demand and supply of RN jobs in California P/MSAs. In the demand model, population age and size were used as determinants of regionally required RN jobs. In the RN jobs (supply) model, a region's supply of RNs was the net sum of factors increasing and decreasing the regional presence of RN jobs, including RN graduations, migration, and aging of the RN workforce. The combination of these supply and demand models was used to produce regional RN shortage forecasts for future years. RESULTS: Almost all regions exhibited growing shortages by 2020 at rates ranging from 3% to 600%. Using a modified version of the grading rubric of the California Regional Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card (Lin, Lee, Juraschek, & Jones, 2006), only two regions will receive a grade above "C" in 2020. The number of "F" grades will grow to nine. CONCLUSIONS: California has the lowest RN ratio in the United States (Fletcher, Guzley, Barnhill, & Philhour, 2004; Health Resources and Services Administration, 2004a) and this RN workforce forecasting model shows that over the next 15 years, the majority of P/MSAs in California will have increasing RN shortages. This analysis has significant policy implications including the need to create specific plans to mitigate the effect of the California shortage.     

Effects of a short-term linguistic class on communication competence of international nurses: implications for practice, policy, and research

International nurses face a host of challenges in their transition and adaptation to the U.S. health care environment. Language and communication barriers have been ranked consistently as a top concern by employers, regulatory agencies, and international nurses themselves. Researchers in this study examined the effects of a 10-week linguistic class on the reduction of phonologic errors affecting foreign accent in a sample of international nurses. The linguistic course appeared to be effective in improving the international nurses' linguistic competence by reducing their phonologic errors significantly. Moreover, the intervention narrowed the linguistic gap between international nurses from non-English and English-speaking countries. Findings from this study have important implications for practice, policy, and research regarding quality of care, as well as for the transition, job satisfaction, and retention of international nurses.     

Are nurses less satisfied than other workers?

Are nurses less satisfied than other workers? In this study comparing job satisfaction of baccalaureate nurses with elementary teachers and accountants, the three groups rated many aspects of their jobs similarly. Nurses were not comparatively or pervasively less satisfied with their jobs than these other professionals except in the areas of salary, chance for administrative participation, and job security.     

Pay for performance: motivating the chief nurse executive

A recent membership survey of the Association of Nurse Executives indicates that an increasing number of nurse executives are receiving bonus compensation based upon the criteria of budget performance, patient satisfaction, and relations with physicians and nurses.     

The importance of employment status in determining exit rates from nursing

To mitigate nurse shortages, health care decision makers tend to employ retention strategies that assume nurses employed in full-time, part-time, or casual positions and working in different sectors have similar preferences for work. However, this assumption has not been validated in the literature. The relationship between a nurse's propensity to exit the nurse profession in Ontario and employment status was explored by building an extended Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Model using a counting process technique. The differential exit patterns between part-time and casual nurses suggest that the common practice of treating part-time and casual nurses as equivalent is misleading. Health care decision makers should consider nurse retention strategies specifically targeting casual nurses because this segment of the profession is at the greatest risk of leaving. Nurse executives and nurse managers should investigate the different work preferences of part-time and casual nurses to devise tailored rather than "one-size fits all" nurse retention strategies to retain casual nurses.     

The relationship between job satisfaction and managerial remuneration in small and medium-sized enterprises: an empirical test of ‘comparison income’ and ‘equity theory’ hypotheses

The relationship between job satisfaction levels and the remuneration of non-owner managers employed by a sample of 97 UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is investigated. The main empirical findings are that relative remuneration levels appear to be largely explained by differences in human capital and job/firm characteristics and that job satisfaction is positively related to deviations from these estimated comparison-income levels. Moreover, the equity theory expectation that individuals with the least prospect of redressing payment inequities will have the greatest incentives to respond to payment inequities by congitive adjustment is also supported. The results indicate that job satisfaction levels for individuals expecting to remain in their current post are not significantly affected by current payment inequities. For those managers who expect to move firms, the amount of payment inequity has a significantly positive effect upon their job satisfaction.     

Teacher training for PhD students and new faculty in economics

Past studies suggest that a majority of economics graduate students engage in teaching-related activities during graduate school and many go on to academic positions afterwards. However, not all graduate students are formally prepared to teach while in graduate school nor are they fully prepared to teach in their first academic position. The authors characterize current teaching experience and training of graduate students from the point of view of directors of graduate studies and of newly minted academic economists. The authors also query department chairs and new faculty about teacher training, support available for new faculty, and the degree to which newly hired Ph.D. economists are prepared to teach. Findings indicate that while some training is available, there is room for enhancing teacher training in economics.     

DOES TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program provides workers who have lost their jobs due to increased trade with income support and training, job search, and relocation benefits. This paper uses data collected by the Department of Labor on TAA beneficiaries to provide the most recent econometric evaluation of the effectiveness of the TAA program. Summary statistics suggest that the TAA program successfully targets displaced workers who have a greater difficulty finding new employment. However, using propensity score matching techniques we find that while the required training component of the program improves the employment outcomes of beneficiaries, on average the TAA program has no discernible impact on the employment outcomes of the participants. (JEL F16)     

Economic,psychological, and sociological determinants of voluntary turnover

Economists, psychologists, and sociologists have all contributed to the understanding of voluntary labor turnover. We argue for an integrated explanatory model which incorporates variables from each perspective. Such a model is presented and then estimated. Data from a cohort of 135 recently hired registered nurses employed by a university hospital are analyzed to assess the effects of the various explanatory variables on turnover during one year of employment. Turnover is measured by organization records for 12 months following the administration of the questionnaire designed to measure the independent variables. The integrated model portrays the work conditions, environmental conditions, and employee characteristics as primarily affecting turnover by impacting on the intervening variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to stay. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and logistic regression are used in the analysis. The data indicate support for sociological, economic, and psychological determinants of voluntary turnover. These findings are discussed from the perspective of Etzioni's claims about the importance of the moral dimension for explaining economic behavior such as turnover.     

The effects of merit pay on teacher job satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to determine if the existence of a district-level merit pay system has any effects on teacher job satisfaction. Using a large sample of public school teachers from the year 2007, the results of this study suggest that teachers who work in districts that use a merit pay system are no less satisfied with their jobs than are other teachers; these results are consistent for both an ordered probit model and a two-stage analysis. Although the effect of merit pay on overall job satisfaction was insignificant, teachers in merit pay districts were less enthusiastic, did not think teaching was important, and were more likely to leave for better pay. However, in examining a sample of teachers who worked only in merit pay districts, it was found that teachers who received merit pay were more satisfied overall with their jobs than were teachers who did not receive merit pay.     

Diversity,knowledge clusters,and job placement: Graduate economics teaching of core microeconomics

The authors present an empirical analysis of what is taught in core micro-economics at a set of top U.S. doctoral economics programs. Their aim is to evaluate the diversity across programs and assess whether there are distinct “schools of thought” in graduate economics education. Their empirical findings reveal substantial, in fact, surprising diversity in what is taught. Application of a clustering algorithm results in programs clustering into two main “schools of thought.” The authors also specify an econometric model of job placement. Their job placement results indicate that candidates are more likely to be hired at schools in the same cluster as their home program, even after controlling for other factors. The results inform debates about graduate education and the relevance of a “common core” curriculum.