Job Satisfaction of Emergency Ambulance Personnel

February 25, 2020 updated by: Semra Aslay, European University of Lefke

Job Satisfaction of Emergency Ambulance Personnel in Northern Cyprus

The emergency department crowding is a worldwide health problem. Overcapacity admissions result in a decrease in health care quality. High job satisfaction, proper working environment, appropriate institutional structuring in government, and sufficient resources of the staff mean the quality of health care. To evaluate the job satisfaction of the personnel works in emergency health care in North Cyprus and contribute to raising the quality of health services to world standards. In this study, job satisfaction of the personnel working in emergency health services in North Cyprus evaluated through a questionnaire made between October 20; November 10, 2016. It consisted of two parts in which sociodemographic characteristics and job satisfaction scale. The job satisfaction scale developed by Güneri (2011) was a 5-point Likert type. It consisted of 7 sub-dimensions: the nature of work, relations with co-workers, vocational training, relationships with supervisors, economic, cultural, social aspect, and capacity of consumables. The scale can have the lowest score of 47 and the highest score of 235. Participants' high scores on the scale indicated high job satisfaction. The participants', 31.82% were in the 36-49 age, 81.06% were women, 75% were married, 82.5% had children, and 42.42% was an undergraduate degree. The majority of the participants were nurses who had been working for more than ten years and 40-50 hours per week. No significant difference found between job satisfaction and sociodemographic characteristics (p>0.05). High school graduates, head nurses, emergency call center staff, working 1-4 years, 40-50 hours per week, and those who received updating training have significantly higher job-satisfaction scores than the other groups (p<0.05). The high job satisfaction of the personnel working in emergency health services is the meaning of high-quality health care. We recommend the inclusion of emergency health services in the existing structure of the Ministry of Health in Northern Cyprus. Also, emergency health care should be provided by paramedics and EMTs (Emergency Medical Technician), decreasing weekly working hours and increasing updating training.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Perception and evaluation of the environment, communication, comfort, and adaptation to conditions affect individual success in the workplace. Wages and working hours, type of contract (shift work, overtime), security, administration, and relations with co-workers are examples of these conditions. For having high job satisfaction, it is also essential that the staff has sufficient knowledge about the job and their expectations. Job satisfaction can be positively affected by determining job, working time, and eliminating differences of work conditions to emergency health care personnel, especially paramedics.

Emergency health services are not a separate unit in the ministry of health in Northern Cyprus. Since the emergency health services are not directly different from the existing system, and therefore, the staff directly connect to their units, some of the participants work in health centers. The first recruitment as a paramedic in Northern Cyprus in the Ministry of Health took place in 2005. However, Paramedics and EMTs who participated in our study declared that they work under the name of nurse staff. Paramedics, who previously worked under the name of another status, first started to work in the public sector in their occupation group as of 2018. Therefore, the current statistical information of both the ministry of health and the most crowded public hospital in Northern Cyprus does not provide sufficient up-to-date information on the number of paramedics and EMTs.

This descriptive study was conducted to evaluate job satisfaction of nurses, paramedics, and EMTs working in Northern Cyprus emergency health care. A total of 17 healthcare facilities providing emergency care services were in the study. Of these facilities, 2 are emergency call centers, 4 are hospital emergency services, and the rest of connected to health centers. A total of one head nurse, 123 nurses, 12 paramedics, and 3 EMTs provide emergency health care to all of Northern Cyprus.

The data of the study collected between October 20; November 10, 2016, after obtaining permission from the related institutions. The questionnaire consisted of two parts with sociodemographic characteristics and job satisfaction scale. The job satisfaction scale developed by Güneri, İlhan& Avcı was a 5-point Likert type. It consisted of 7 sub-dimensions: the nature of work, relations with co-workers, vocational training, relationships with supervisors, economic, cultural, social aspect, and capacity of consumables.

The answers to suggestions in the scale were scored as "very satisfied = 5 points", "satisfied = 4 points", "okay= 3 points", "dissatisfied = 2 points", and "very dissatisfied = 1 point". The scale lowest score was 47, and the highest was 235. Participants' high scores on the scale indicated high job satisfaction. In this study, the Cronbach alpha coefficient was found to be 0.94 in the scale and 0.79-0.95 in the sub-dimensions.

For statistical analysis, we used to statistical program SPSS 21.0. (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Before the data analysis, the data set checked to eliminate the errors that may arise from data entry. Frequency analysis was used to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Scores obtained from job satisfaction scale and sub-dimensions gave as descriptive statistics for central tendency measures such as mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum value. The scores of the participants obtained from the job satisfaction scale according to their independent variables were analyzed. For the data analyzing, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the QQ plot graph used. It concluded that the data set conforms to normal distribution. After that, we compared the scale scores according to independent variables.

In the comparison of job satisfaction scores according to the characteristics of the participants such as gender and marital status, a t-test was used since the independent variable consists of two categories. ANOVA test was used to compare the scores obtained by the participants if the independent variable such as age group and professional seniority consisted of more than two categories. If there was a difference between the types of the independent variable as a result of ANOVA, Tukey test was used to determine which groups the dispute originated. In this study, 132 of 138 personnel working in emergency health services reached in Northern Cyprus. Of the remaining, four were on long-term leave, and two did not accept.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

132

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:A total of 17 healthcare facilities providing emergency care services were in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

Doctors, did not accept to join to study, long term leaving from job

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Emergency Health Care Provider
Working in emergency health services in Northern Cyprus
Other Names:
  • Nature of work
  • Relations with co-workers
  • Vocational training
  • Relationship with supervisors
  • Economic aspect
  • Cultural aspect
  • Social aspect
  • Capacity of consumables

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Job Satisfaction of Emergency Health Care Providers in Northern Cyprus
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 6 months
Questionnaire
Through study completion, an average of 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Study Director: Semra Aslay, MD, European University of Lefke

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 20, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 10, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

November 10, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 21, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 27, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

December 2, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 27, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 25, 2020

Last Verified

February 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

Yes

IPD Plan Description

All collected individual participating data

IPD Sharing Time Frame

After published there is no ending time frame

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Paramedic, EMT, and nurses in emergency health care in Northern Cyprus included in the study. In the research, a complete census conducted without any sampling, and 132 staff interviewed.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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