Qualitative investigation of professional satisfaction’s parameters in Hellenic nursing personnel

Abstract

Background: There are limited studies investigating Hellenic nurses' professional satisfaction. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to explore Hellenic nurses' feelings about their work, as well as the factors that are associated to them. Method: Munhall's and Van Manen's methodology for existential phenomenological research in nursing was performed. The main stages applied within this methodology were bracketing, intuiting, analyzing, and describing. The data were obtained from 18 nurses from the clinical area who were purposively selected. Findings: A sense of actively offering support and care to patients and their families was revealed as the core theme of participants' satisfaction feelings from their job, despite the existence of major sources of dissatisfaction. The latter were low wage, limited personnel and heavy duty conditions, limited educational opportunities, low social appraisal of nursing, as well as a low quality of social and professional interaction. Conclusions: There exist numerous factors associated with feelings of dissatisfaction for Hellenic nurses. These factors mainly reflect the lack of administrative support to nurses. At the same time, the lived experience of caring through the offer of support and relief to patients, despite low social appraisal, constitutes the main factor for professional satisfaction for Hellenic nursing personnel.