Nurse job satisfaction in pediatric health units.
Nurses, Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Child, Pediatrics, Pleasure, Job satisfaction, Stress Psychological.
The experiences of pleasure and suffering determine the subject's relationship with their work,
and can culminate in the production of health and psychological illness among workers.
Pleasure tends to be manifested through feelings such as recognition and affinity with work,
that is, positive experiences. On the other hand, failure, frustration and impotence point to
suffering, when they contradict the expectations of this subject. Given this, the study's general
objective was to analyze aspects of the work process that trigger satisfaction and dissatisfaction
among nurses who work in pediatric services in a capital in northeastern Brazil. This is a
descriptive and analytical study with a qualitative approach, using the Psychodynamics of
Christophe Dejours' work as a theoretical framework. Eighteen nurses working in three public
pediatric services of medium and high complexity in the city of Natal/RN participated in the
study between September and November 2023. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were
used as a method to obtain data in a preferred location. of each participant, associated with a
field diary. Subsequently, content analysis was conducted with the help of the Atlas.ti 23
software. All research was developed in compliance with Resolution 466/12 of the National
Health Council and the General Data Protection Law n.13.709/2018, having been approved by
CEP/UFRN with opinion no. 6.278.155. The elements of satisfaction exposed were the
development of care due to the affinity with the pediatric specialty, especially when the child
recovers, good relationships with peers, both families and the multidisciplinary team, as well as
the empathy of the immediate supervisor. However, work overload, distancing from
institutional management, related to poor organization of Nursing staffing and staff shortages
with frequent sector reassignments and undervaluation of the specialty, were the main factors
that contributed to job dissatisfaction. It was concluded that the research participants are
partially satisfied with their work and that the factors revealed could be fundamental to
improving their work process in relation to their teams, institutional and political management.