Predictors of job satisfaction and burnout among tuberculosis management nurses and physicians.

Hae-Suk Seo,Hyunjoong Kim,Se-Min Hwang,In-Young Lee,Soo Hyun Hong

doi:10.4178/epih.e2016008

Hae-Suk Seo, Hyunjoong Kim + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2016008

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES:This study examined job satisfaction, empowerment, job stress, and burnout among tuberculosis management nurses and physicians in public healthcare institutions.METHODS:This was a cross-sectional study analyzing survey data collected from 249 nurses and 57 physicians in 105 public health centers, three public tuberculosis hospitals, and one tertiary hospital. The survey questionnaire comprised general characteristics, work-related characteristics, and four index scales (job satisfaction, empowerment, job stress, and burnout). The two-sample t-test was used to estimate the mean differences in the four index scales. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether general and work-related characteristics affected the four index scales.RESULTS:The job satisfaction and empowerment scores of the nurses were lower than those of the physicians. Except for the tuberculosis-specialized hospitals alone, the average job satisfaction scores of nurses were higher than those of physicians. Moreover, the nurses reported more job stress and burnout than did the physicians in tuberculosis departments in public healthcare institutions in Korea; in particular, the burnout reported by nurses was significantly higher than that reported by physicians at the National Medical Center. Marital status, nursing position, number of coworkers, the average number of days of overtime work per month, self-rated health, and hospital type were associated with the four index scales.CONCLUSIONS:Overall, nurses were more vulnerable to job stress and burnout than physicians. Reducing the workload of nurses by ensuring the presence of sufficient nursing staff and equipment, as well as by equipping facilities to prevent tuberculosis infections, should be considered priorities.

Highlights

This study provides primary data for discussing solutions and macroscopic policy choices that seek to relieve the work-related stress of TB management nurses and improve their job satisfaction
General characteristics of the research subjects The general information of the 249 nurses and 57 physicians consisted of the following 11 components: sex, age, marital status, educational level, income, self-rated health, type of hospital, type of job, job position, number of coworkers, years in the TB department, and the average number of days of overtime work per month (Table 1)
This study found that the job stress and burnout of nurses were higher than those of physicians, and that the level of empowerment of nurses was lower than that of physicians in TB departments in Korean public healthcare institutions

Summary

Introduction

In Korea, the annual incidence rate of new TB infections was 87 per 100,000 population, which was well above the OECD average of 17.7; the mortality rate of TB in Korea of 10 per 100,000 population was five times greater than the OECD average of 2.1 [2]. In this context, TB can be seen as negatively impacting the national status of Korea, which has led to the adoption of a rigorous national strategy to resolve TB problems within a short time frame. The major goal of this plan is the reduction of the incidence and mortality of TB to levels that are equivalent to those observed in other developed coun-

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