Nurses' satisfaction with their work situation.

Although job satisfaction is related to performance within the work setting, precise definitions and methods of measuring satisfaction are lacking, especially in medical settings. This article describes a two-year research project that investigated the concept of occupational satisfaction and methods of measuring this concept among in-and outpatient nurses. The Index of Work Satisfaction, a scale that measures relative importance of various components of satisfaction and attitudes toward the components, as well as an overall summary score, was developed. Methodology of the scale development, utilizing hospital nurses and nurses involved in a private group-practice setting, is described. Analysis of the responses from the nurses indicated that the scale measured occupational satifaction of nurses in both settings.