How important are autonomy and work setting to nurse practitioners' job satisfaction?

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Healthcare Management
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Nurse practitioners (NPs) report varying job satisfaction levels.
• Factors predicting overall NP job satisfaction require further investigation.
• Autonomy and work setting are potential predictors of NP job satisfaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the predictive relationship between autonomy and work setting on nurse practitioner job satisfaction.
• To identify specific aspects of autonomy that influence NP job satisfaction.
• To analyze how different work settings affect NP job satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the 2012 National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners (n=8311).
• Examined bivariate and multivariate relationships between work setting, autonomy variables, and job satisfaction.
• Autonomy variables included independent billing, skill utilization, and physician relationships.

Main Results:

• Nurse practitioners in primary care settings reported the highest autonomy.
• Nurse practitioners in hospital surgical settings reported the lowest autonomy.
• Full utilization of NP skills was the strongest predictor of job satisfaction, increasing scores by nearly one point.

Conclusions:

• Ensuring nurse practitioners' skills are fully utilized is crucial for job satisfaction.
• Work setting demonstrated a marginal relationship with overall job satisfaction.
• Healthcare organizations should prioritize skill utilization to attract and retain NPs.