Job satisfaction of nurses in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia: a cross-sectional study

Aim: This study aimed to determine nurses’ attitudes toward job satisfaction and to describe the variables that affect their job satisfaction. Design: A non-experimental, cross-sectional study. Methods: A total of 1, 850 nurses working in clinical hospital centres in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia were approached. Of those, 475 participated in the study, making a total response rate of 25.6%. Data were collected through the Survey of Nursing Satisfaction. The questionnaire is owned by the Croatian Agency for Quality and Accreditation in Health Care and Social Welfare. Results: The overall results for all three countries show that men and women differed in their perception of exposure to discrimination at work (t = 2.62 ; df = 469 ; p < 0.01). Men, on average, were more satisfied at work (M = 3.47 ; SD = 0.68 ; p < 0.05) than women (M = 3.29 ; SD = 0.63 ; p < 0.05). Nurses in the Croatian hospital were the most satisfied with the amount of education they were exposed to (F2.470 = 18.09 ; p < 0.001) but felt more discriminated against at work than their counterparts from Slovenia and Serbia (F2.471 = 136.04 ; p < 0.001). Respondents rated their job satisfaction as good. Conclusion: In line with the findings, nurses should be able to move forward, improve communication and interpersonal relationships to be even more comfortable in the workplace. Each institution has quality indicators and it is very important to continuously conduct employee satisfaction surveys as these are beneficial for the staff, patients and healthcare quality