Impacts of the work conditions, job satisfaction, and retention outcomes in Nursing - Research Paper Example

Satisfied nursing professionals exhibit higher work productivity, less absenteeism, efficient patient care process and improvement in the quality of health care due to reduction of medication errors. Hospital managers should ensure that nurses exercise their autonomy and also health professionals collaborate in order to enhance the patient care outcomes. Nurses play a critical role in determining the effectiveness and sustainability of the health care provision (Bae, 2008). It is vital for nurses to have good working conditions in order to perform their duties effectively.

However, it is crucial also to understand what motivates nurses to exert additional efforts in their work. Unsupportive work environment is associated with subjective stress, anxiety, and hostility towards work thus hindering effective patient care. High job satisfaction is exhibited by a willingness to exert more efforts in the provision of patient care. Poor working conditions de-motivate the nurses thus leading to higher turnover (Jernigan, 2008). In addition, higher turnover negatively affects the health care quality thus ultimately leading to more patient falls and high disease incidents (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, 2004).

Job dissatisfaction has consistently been cited as one of the contributing factors to high nurse turnover in many health facilities. Other outcomes of job dissatisfaction in the nursing profession include high absenteeism, low worker productivity, increased patient accidents and medication errors in the health facility (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, 2004). All these outcomes of job dissatisfaction impede the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing care delivery thus threatening the health care of patients.

Job satisfaction encompasses the attitudes and emotions of the nurse towards their work. Some causes of job dissatisfaction include huge workloads, long working hours, low