Job Satisfaction among Primary Health Care Workers in Buraidah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Satisfaction of health care workers has direct effect on the quality of care. This study aimed to assess the job satisfaction among primary health care (PHC) workers in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional study was conducted among primary health care workers in Buraidah. Twenty PHC centers were selected by simple random sampling. All the workers including; physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist and laboratory technician who have been working for at least one year in the same facility were invited to participate in the study. Data was collected on socio-demographic and professional characteristics. Job satisfaction was measured using a validated 36 item Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS). A total of 230 PHC workers were included in this study. Nineteen (8.3%) of them expressed that they were dissatisfied, and almost half of them (55.7%) were ambivalent, and the rest (36.1%) were satisfied with their job. Among the nine facets of the JSS; Nature of work, Co-workers and Supervision had mean scores in the satisfaction category, while, five facets were in the range of ambivalent; Pay, Promotion, Benefits, Contingent rewards and Communication. Only one facet fell under the dissatisfaction range which was Operating Conditions. None of the socio-demographic variables had significant association with job satisfaction. About two thirds of the PHC workers were not satisfied with their job. This calls for policy makers to enhance job and job conditions to increase job satisfaction and improve the quality of care at primary care level. Key words: Job; Primary care; Satisfaction; Saudi Arabia; Worker