Factors Affecting Willingness to Satisfy Patients among Nurses in Hospitals

간호사의 환자만족 지향태도에 영향을 미치는 직무관련 요인

Background : Willingness to satisfy patients(WSP) among nurses is essential to promoting patient satisfaction which is a critical component in the quality of health care and its outcomes. This study was carried out to empirically find out the affecting factors of WSP among nurses in hospital settings. Methods : The model contains seven job relating determinants and two intervening variables as follows: i) job relating variables of professional status, task requirements, pay, physician-nurse interaction, nurse-nurse interaction, organizational policies, and autonomy, ii) intervening variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Data were collected from 205 nurses in two general hospitals owned by one foundation located in Pusan, Korea, using a structured and self-administered questionnaire. Results : The major results were as follows: First, the results of ANOVA on WPS by personal characteristics showed a statistically significant relationships between WPS and hierarchical orders(p<.01) ana tenure(p<.10). Comparing with the lower orders and shorter tenure, the higher orders and the longer tenure showed better WPS. Second, the results of simple correlation analysis between WPS and determinants and intervening variables showed the following variables, in order of importance, were statistically significant(p<.01): work satisfaction(+), organizational commitment(+), task requirements(+), nurse-interaction(+), professional status(+), physician-nurse interaction(+). Third, the results of path analysis showed that two intervening variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and three determinants of task requirements, professional status, and nurse-nurse interaction had a positively significant direct effect to WPS. Conclusion : The results suggest that nurses who are more satisfied with task requirements, status, nurse-nurse interaction, overall job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, will behave in ways that patients find more satisfied.