The individual factors of nurses are very important and determining the nurse’s satisfaction with the quality of their work life. The results showed that age, years of service, experience, level of education, sex, job title, motivation, number of children, and family burden can improve the quality of life. Nurses in carrying out their duties will always work together in a multidisciplinary health team. So the ability to communicate the results of critical thinking from situations that occur in patients will foster a good relationship in the team and to patients and families who are strongly influenced by individual factors nurses.
Older nurses find it easier to build a relationship of trust in the nursing team and in the inter-professional team. The longer and more experience at work makes nurses able to overcome work difficulties more easily.
Senior nurses are often consulted with regard to the choice of clinical decisions, actions to patients that require expert judgment, and gradually provide guidance to more junior nurses. The nurse’s education level also contributes to the satisfaction of the quality of work life.
Nurse education, dominated by nurses from undergraduate, professional, and diploma levels have mastered good nursing skills and knowledge. The nurse’s ability to be critical of the patient’s situation and condition will produce the right thoughts, such as in resolution of patient nursing problems and implementation of nursing interventions for better and faster patient recovery. The situation fosters satisfaction and confidence in nurses so as to improve the quality of work of nurses.
The results of the study showed that the majority of nurses are female and male nurses had lower quality of satisfaction to work life compared to female nurses. Some nurses’ jobs that rely on physical strength and abilities such as transferring patients and pushing heavy medical equipment will be burdened more on male nurses, a condition that causes male nurses to get more labor-intensive jobs than female nurses and it affect the quality of life of male nurses.
Positions such as being the head of the room or the team leader have greater responsibility than the attending nurses and are more prone to feel the tension at work. However, the compensation of income earned related to the position is able to give its own satisfaction and help nurses get a better quality of work life.
Individual factors outside of work that also determining are the number of children and family burden that must be met. Having children means fulfilling material and financial needs. Female nurses with children tend to have higher stress and feel tired more easily. Nurses must continue to care for children, provide protection, learning and still have to serve in hospitals that require good physical condition. Besides children, some nurses live in one house with a large family, thereby increasing the burden of dependency. The situation affects the quality of work life of nurses and ultimately affects the performance as a nurse. However, children and family also give a boost of spirit and motivation to work, make a living, and meet the needs in life.
Nurse motivation is the individual factor that has the most role in determining QNWL. Nurses with high motivation and expectations in work environment tend to have good perceptions about work so they are better at achieving high quality of work. Despite experiencing a heavy workload and a large family burden, nurses can strive for the best quality of service. Nurses work as much and earnest as possible to get more rewards. Nurses do their best work with the aim of getting a promotion or getting positive attention from superiors. So it is very important to maintain the motivation of nurses to create high quality work lives of nurses.
Author: Dr. Rizki Fitryasari PK, S.Kep.,Ns.,M.Kep (Fakultas Keperawatan Unair)
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