Due to variability amongst educational standards and the organisational characteristics of health care systems in different countries, professional nurses are diversified in terms of their education levels. In Poland, as in many other European countries, the nursing education system consists of two stages: a 3-year bachelor’s level course (1st cycle) and a 2-year master’s level course (2nd cycle). The duration of master’s nursing studies is at least 4 semesters; practical classes and traineeships must include at least 1300 h, and the number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) points is at least 120 [1]. Advancement to master’s level studies is available for those who have graduated from a 1st cycle nursing course.
Graduates of master’s programmes have specialist knowledge in nursing and other medical sciences. They can solve professional problems (especially those that involve making decisions in difficult situations), establish the standards of professional care and implement them in professional practise, monitor the quality of care, and conduct research. Additionally, they are prepared to organise and supervise nursing care, apply legal regulations in management, determine the assumptions of human resources policy, and plan employment at the medical facility. A master’s-prepared nurse is also qualified to develop and implement health education programmes and select optimum teaching and learning methods [1]. Moreover, a nurse with the Master’s degree may engage in doctoral (3rd cycle) studies.
Medical professionals address problems of quality-management in health care; they influence the hospital’s organisational culture and their colleagues’ behaviours; and they participate in building a positive image of the medical institution, through contacts with patients and their families [2]. Master’s studies help nurses develop the habit of continuous learning, and hence ensure continuous professional development. This is especially important in the nursing profession, with its central focus on caring for people. Nurses with a Master’s degree (hereafter referred to as ‘masters of nursing’) can work at health care institutions, in state or local administration, as teachers of the profession, or as researchers.
The current system of nursing education in Poland has definitely contributed to the increasing number of masters of nursing, and thus to the development of Polish nursing itself, through research into the practise of nursing, comparative studies of nursing experiences in Poland versus other countries, obtaining of higher (e.g. PhD) degrees, and organising of conferences and symposia. Data of the Central Statistical Office [3] show that in 2013, amongst medical professionals working directly with patients in health care centres in Poland, there were 200,587 nurses, of whom 19,920 (9.9%) had Master of Nursing degrees.
Although work satisfaction amongst nurses has been studied by many scholars [4,5,6,7,8,9,10], there are still only a few studies concerning the cohort of nurses with Master’s degrees [11, 12]. There is some evidence, however, for positive gains for nurses who undertake postgraduate nursing studies at the master’s level, related to professional and personal qualities which may provide direct benefit to patients [11].
To maximise the knowledge and skills of nursing professionals, it is worth identifying the areas of dissatisfaction of nurses who have Master of Nursing degrees and the factors that contribute to satisfaction with the work they do. Learning about and understanding the issues related to professional satisfaction of this cohort may help develop organisational changes necessary for improved functioning of health care institutions.
The objectives of this work were to evaluate the level of professional satisfaction of nurses with Master of Nursing degrees employed at health care institutions and to ascertain its determinants.
The specific aims were:
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1.
to determine the general level of professional satisfaction of nurses who have Master of Nursing degrees;
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2.
to determine the hierarchy of the factors with the greatest and the least influence on professional satisfaction;
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3.
to determine the relationship between the level of professional satisfaction and the person’s position;
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4.
to identify the factors of professional satisfaction and dissatisfaction based on the responses to open-ended questions.