Nurses’ work environment characteristics and job satisfaction: Evidence from Georgia

Introduction: The health care system and health care service delivery is essentially dependent on the number of medical staff working in the network, their level of education, work environment and job satisfaction. There is a shortage of nurses’ in Georgia, which has an adverse effect on the health care system and patient care outcomes. The aim of this study is to measure the work environment characteristics, job satisfaction and to evaluate the association between these variables. Methods: The quantitative research method was used. The Work Environment Scale and a Job Satisfaction Questionnaire were administered. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample and results of the questionnaires. Results: The majority of nurse’s reported lower levels of job satisfaction, work environment characteristics. Discussion: The nurse shortage is caused by a variety of reasons, including the inability of the health care system to keep nurses in a workplace. Due to the economic situation, nurses' annual salary is very low. The hospitals are trying to reduce the number of nurses or not to hire additional nurses due to economic reasons. Nurses have less will to work with the existing working conditions. Policy makers should address many issues: improving recruitment, retention and return in order to keep or increase already few number of nurses. The development of programs to improve the nurse practice environment, especially staffing and resources, could improve nurse retention and thereby slow down the nursing shortage.