Perceived Conditions of Employment Among Hospital Registered in Georgia: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Employment conditions of registered nurses have to date not been studied in the State of Georgia. This investigation was conducted in order to compare ~urses' satisfaction or dissatisfaction with conditions of employment to retention, hospital setting, and hospital size, The present study identified specific factors in ~he work environment that contribute to the registered nurses' satisfaction or dissatisfaction with employment conditions.. This investigation, which is a partial replication of an earlier st ud.y by Wandel t ( 1980) , arose· out of concern for the shortage . of registered nurses in Georgia. A descriptive survey design was used to determine the relationship between perceived conditions of employment o~ register$d n~ses employed in 200- 400 bed acute medical-surgical hospitals. in the State of Georgia and their perceived job. satisfaction. It was hypothesi.zed thata (1) nurses employed in a hospital with a low turnover rate would express greater satisfaction with conditions of employment than nurses employed in a hospital with a high turnover rate; (2) nurses employed in a rural hospital would express greater satisfaction with conditions of employment than nurses employed in an urban hospital; and ( J) nurses employed in a 200 - 2?5 bed hospital would express great,er satisfaction with conditions of employment than nurses employed in a,J25 - 400 bed hospital. The results of ! test values, at the .05 level of significance, demonstrated statistically significant results for all three hypotheses posed.