Barriers to New Nurse Practitioner Job Satisfaction

Novice Nurse Practitioners (NPs) face many challenges in the first few years of practice. A novice NP was defined as a NP who has practiced for two years or less. The focus of this practice improvement project was to investigate what novice NPs in North Dakota perceive as barriers to successful role transition, job satisfaction, and how organizational climate affects job satisfaction. A convenience sample of novice NPs (N=14) were recruited through three separate venues. The Misener NP Job Satisfaction Scale? (MNPJSS) and the Nurse Practitioner ? Primary Care Organizational Climate Questionnaire (NP- PCOCQ) were chosen to measure the project objectives. Survey statistical analysis consisted of means and standard deviations due to a small sample size. The MNPJSS assesses intrinsic (emotional) and extrinsic (environment) NP job satisfaction (Misener & Cox, 2001) and the NP-PCOCQ evaluates organization climate in relation to NP job satisfaction (Poghosyan et al., 2013a). The MNPJSS has six subscales, four extrinsic, and two intrinsic factors affecting job satisfaction. The extrinsic factors rated highest were related to fair evaluation, social contact at work, and immediate supervisor. The intrinsic factors were time spent in patient care, patient mix, and sense of accomplishment (Misener & Cox, 2001). The factors with the least satisfaction were related to bonuses and other compensation. Independence in practice, having a mentor, and feeling valued were organizational satisfiers. Lack of professional visibility and poor relations with administration were identified barriers. Several studies have found that autonomous practice is one of the most important factors in NP job satisfaction (Choi & De Gagne, 2015; De Milt, Fitzpatrick, & McNulty, 2011; Faraz, 2016; Faris, Douglas, Maples, Berg, & Thrailkill, 2010; Misener & Cox, 2001). Nevertheless, laws limiting NP practice authority persist. There are 234,000 NPs in the U.S. and the number of NP graduates increases exponentially each year, in 2015-2016 there were 23,000 NP graduates (AANP, 2018, January 22). The first step to ease transition to practice is to identify and limit barriers for NPs entering the workforce