Job satisfaction among Saudi critical care nurses in Mecca, Saudi Arabia: perceptions of what matters

This research aimed to explore factors contributing to Saudi critical care nurses’ job satisfaction in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative research design was used, namely, interpretive description approach, to explore the perceptions of Saudi critical care nurses about factors influencing their job satisfaction. The data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews in order to gain detailed explanation of the participants’ opinions, feelings and experiences. The target population for this research were seven Saudi nurses working in intensive care and critical care units in Mecca region, Saudi Arabia. In order to overcome the problem of national nursing shortage and turnover, along with dissatisfaction, Saudi nurses’ satisfaction in their profession is important. This is especially so in critical care units as nurses there deal with severely ill patients and stressful environment. Overall most nurses were dissatisfied with aspects of their profession. A number of factors influenced their job satisfaction such as work environment, payment, long working hours, relationships, leadership and foreign head nurses. It is hoped that findings of this study provide vision for policymakers on how nurses’ satisfaction may impact on nursing recruitment and turnover and decrease the nursing shortages