Nursing career anchors and professional exercise: is there alignment?

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Occupational Health
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Understanding nurses' career anchors is vital for addressing job dissatisfaction and burnout.
• Career anchors, representing individual career motivations, significantly influence job satisfaction and retention.
• University hospital settings present unique challenges and opportunities for nursing career development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the predominant career anchors among university hospital nurses.
• To assess the alignment between nurses' career anchors and their current work environment.
• To examine this alignment from the perspective of workers' health and well-being.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, quantitative study was conducted with 135 nurses at a university hospital.
• Data were collected between December 2018 and February 2019.
• The Career Orientations Inventory was utilized to identify career anchors and assess job alignment.

Main Results:

• The most prevalent career anchors identified were Security/Stability, Service/Dedication to a Cause, and Lifestyle.
• A significant majority of nurses (63.7%) reported a misalignment between their career anchors and current job roles.
• This misalignment suggests that nurses' core professional motivations are not being met in their present positions.

Conclusions:

• Career anchor misalignment is common among university hospital nurses.
• The lack of alignment indicates that nurses' professional aspirations are frequently unmet in their current work.
• This discrepancy can contribute to adverse health outcomes, including physical exhaustion and psychological distress, highlighting the need for supportive work environments.