Job satisfaction amongst professional nurses at selected clinics in the Eastern Cape with particular reference to the Ideal Clinic System (ICS)

Abstract

Globally, professional nurses are the ‘engine’ of the healthcare system. Therefore, their job satisfaction needs to be taken into full consideration as they have a very important duty to perform in health care facilities. Arguably, if job satisfaction of nurses is ignored, then productivity and the outcome of the health care system could be negatively affected. Thus, the health care facilities have the duty to keep the nurses satisfied in order to have good standards of care. In 2013, an Ideal Clinic System (ICS) was developed by the South African government through the Department of Health to improve all healthcare facilities in the country. The ICS was developed to standardise all healthcare facilities nationally, to address gaps with regards to infrastructure between the rural and urban healthcare facilities. In relation to the implementation of Ideal Clinic System (ICS), no study has been conducted in the Eastern Cape Province, Chris Hani District to assess the job satisfaction of nurses. The questions raised therefore are: what is the level of job satisfaction amongst nurses in reference to the Ideal Clinic System? What are the recommendations can be made by the nurses and the researcher regarding the implementation of this system? The objective of this study was to examine the level of job satisfaction among nurses after the implementation of the Ideal Clinic System (ICS) at selected clinics in the Eastern Cape Province. This study was grounded on mixed research methods, quantitative epistemology in order to determine the cause-and-effect interactions between the variables and qualitative research method in the form of open ended questions. The sample of the population was 200 respondents. The respondents were selected using stratified random sampling technique from the selected clinics in the Eastern Cape Province. A structured questionnaire and open ended questions were used to collect data in the following clinics: Nyalasa clinic, Upper Lafutha clinic, Mceula clinic, Manzimahle clinic, Asketeon clinic, and Qiba clinic. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used with the assistant of the statistician to analyse data. Descriptive results were presented with respect to age and gender of the respondents. Gender results revealed that female participants dominate the nursing profession while the age results showed that those aged 51 years and above as well as those between 36 to 45 years dominated the nursing profession. The resulting study model reveal that recognition and training are the most influential as far as job satisfaction of nurses is concerned in the workplace. Therefore, any intervention measures meant to enhance job satisfaction for of nurses must be formulated based on these two aspects. The study concludes that in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, job satisfaction among nurses can be enhanced if intervention are designed around issues related to recognition and training. However, this is not to say that factors such as compensation and working conditions are not important. The study further concludes that in the Eastern Cape Province, the ICS plays no significant role in influencing the relationship between work environment (compensation, working conditions, recognition and training) and job satisfaction.