[Association between occupational satisfaction and perceived general health in emergency nurses]

To assess occupational satisfaction and perceived general health in a sample of emergency nurses.

We performed a cross-sectional study in nursing staff of the Hospital Morales Meseguer emergency service. A survey of sociodemographic and occupational variables was carried out. Two validated questionnaires were also used: the "Font Roja" occupational satisfaction questionnaire (1988), and the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), validated by Lobo et al. (1986) for the Spanish population, to asses perceived general health.

The response rate was 79.7%. The mean overall satisfaction score was 3.38 (SD = 0.34). Female professionals showed higher mean overall satisfaction (3.40; SD = 0.50) than male professionals (3.19; SD = 0.10) (p < 0.05). Nursing professionals showed greater satisfaction with occupational stress (2.99; SD = 0.55) than auxiliary nursing staff (2.55; SD = 0.62) (p < 0.05). The mean overall score for perceived general health was 4.42 (SD = 5.48). The higher the occupational satisfaction score, the lower the perceived general health score (r = -0.282; p = 0.037). The B-scale of anxiety symptoms showed the highest number of significant correlations with the distinct dimensions of occupational satisfaction.

Moderate levels of occupational satisfaction were found among the professionals studied. Significant differences in gender were found in the evaluation of mean overall satisfaction, specifically in factors related to relationships with superiors and extrinsic characteristics associated with status and professional recognition. Psychic vulnerability was found in 25.5% of the health professionals surveyed.