Last update:
31-Mar-2011

OBJECTIVE To record levels of job satisfaction among health professionals employed in the public sector hospitals in Cyprus, explore issues related to job satisfaction and provide a comparative analysis by hospital and occupational group.

METHOD The study sample consisted of 770 health professionals from four public hospitals in Cyprus, selected from among all the employees by random stratified sampling according to hospital and occupational group (i.e., doctors, nurses and other health professionals). A self-completed structured questionnaire was used, collected in ballots. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data, and odds ratios (calculated using ordinal logistic regression) were used to compare the level of satisfaction, ranked on a 5-point Likert scale, across different hospitals and occupational groups.

RESULTS Eight in ten employees reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their job. Employees in the Pafos hospital reported higher levels and employees in the Limassol hospital reported lower levels of overall job satisfaction. Satisfaction was derived from the specific job description (particularly for doctors and other health professionals) and the relationship between the employee and the patients, while for nurses income was also important. Despite the high recorded levels of overall satisfaction, levels of dissatisfaction appeared relatively high in several job components or aspects, such as recognition and encouragement of personal development, fair promotion based on review, recognition of positive efforts, motivation of employees and level of organisation/administration of the hospitals. Levels of job satisfaction among "other professionals" appeared lower in 12 of the 16 parameters under study in comparison to that of doctors and nurses. Finally, the employees in the Pafos hospital scored significantly higher in 14 of 16 parameters than those in the other three hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS The findings are consistent with those from both an outpatient and an inpatient patient satisfaction survey performed recently by the Cyprus Open University on behalf of the Cyprus Ministry of Health. This suggests that satisfaction of employees means satisfied patient-users. In all three surveys, the responders in the hospitals in Nicosia and Pafos reported consistently higher levels of satisfaction while those in the Limassol and Larnaca hospitals scored lower. Special attention should be given to these two hospitals, introducing measures directed towards improvement in the specific components or aspects considered to be problematic or sources of dissatisfaction by both employees and patients.

Key words: Cyprus, Health professionals, Job satisfaction, Public hospitals.