February 16, 2011 |

Nurse Survey Reveals Those in Skilled Nursing Most Dissatisfied with Jobs, Benefits

In a satisfaction survey that polled more than 95,000 nurses in more than 600 healthcare settings, those in nursing homes turned out to be most dissatisfied with their careers.

The study, published in the policy journal Health Affairs, found that, among nurses working directly with patients, 27% of nursing home nurses and 24% of hospital nurses reported dissatisfaction in their current jobs, compared to just 13% of nurses working in other settings.

“This suggests that nurses in caregiving roles are experiencing a distinct disadvantage relative to their peers and others in the broader workforce, a disadvantage that is likely to affect the stability of the nurse workforce in the future,” according to researchers from the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing.

Other highlights from the study include: thirty-seven percent of nursing home nurses and 34% of hospital nurses feel burned out in their current jobs; 51% of nursing home nurses and 41% of hospital nurses are dissatisfied with their health benefits; and nearly 60% of nurses in nursing homes and half of nurses in hospitals are unhappy with retirement benefits.

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