[The assessment of nurses satisfaction for an organization that values posts and professional responsibilities]

To assess the effectiveness of a new organizational model for professional development, that assigns and financially rewards 12 positions that encompass specific responsibilities (such as responsible of Evidence based Nursing; expert in pressure ulcers, responsible of the newly employed nurses), nurses' satisfaction was measured.

From November to December 2003 the MC Closey Muller Satisfaction Questionnaire was administered to all the nurses in service in the wards. Levels of satisfaction of nurses with and without specific responsibilities were compared. The answers for each item are on a five points Likert scale.

The questionnaire was administered to 1.167 nurses (58.9% of the nurses of the hospital); 602 were assigned positions with specific responsibilities. Overall, nurses with positions assigned were more satisfied (2.76 vs 2.61, p.0.01) and statistically significant differences were obtained for 14/31 items of the scale, and for 5/8 subscales.

The results obtained, although the level of satisfaction is lower compared to other studies, confirm the strategy of professional development adopted in the Hospital. The analysis of results for each position allowed some reflections and to identify strategies to improve the organizational support to some positions.