A Survey of motivational factors for nurses in five selected hospitals in West Java

Abstract

West Java is facing a shortage of professional nurses, while at same time clients are demanding a high quality of care in hospitals. This study was conducted to find out ways to retain competent, qualified, professional nurses in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that nurses perceive a hospital should provide to motivate nurses to remain in present employment. This information should be useful in designing a retention program for nurses. A tool structured for this study contained a demographic section and a 50-item sca1e. The scale items were organized into seven subscales based on Maslow's and Herzberg's motivation theories. Face validity and test-retest reliability were established on the tool. Subjects rated each scale item on a 5-point Likert type scale for both importance and satisfaction. A l00 randomly selected professional nurses were drawn from five private general hospitals located in West Java. Thirteen null hypotheses were posed for testing various elements on the model. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and chi-square to determine personal, employment, and hospital variables affecting importance and satisfaction ratings on total score scale and subscales. Major conclusions were that nurses in larger hospitals are more satisfied than those in smaller hospitals. Work overload detracts from nurse satisfaction. Nurses are more satisfied where adequate professional staffing exists. Those nurses who plan to leave the hospital due to employment-related reasons are less satisfied than those intending to leave for personal reasons. Avoidance of favoritism, good communication and relationships, and opportunities for promotion and growth were important for nurses, satisfaction. The hygiene factors were more important to this group than the motivator factor. These nurses rated salary and benefit as the most importance item, but the lowest in satisfaction. Therefore, recommendations for further study were (a) that the study be repeated with a larger sample of hospitals including variables such as religion, core values of nurses, and type of nursing care delivery system; (b) that the study be repeated in a different culture and in hospitals with different characteristics; such as government-private, small-large, and associated with or not associated with a school of nursing. Some recommendations for nursing administrators include regular assessment of nurse reward systems such as salary, benefits, nursing allowances, and social recognition. The administrator should act as an advocate, provide recognition, avoid favoritism, keep open communication, and build relationships. Also rated as important by nurses is providing opportunities for growth and advancement, as might be achieved in a clinical ladder. The nurse administrator should also be alert to workload levels of nurses, for the overloaded nurse is likely to be dissatisfied. At the same time, nurses appear to need new learning opportunities to be happy in their work.