The Relationship between Nurses' Perceptions of the Clinical Governance Climate and their Job Satisfaction Levels

Clinical governance evaluation is important to determine what organisational development efforts should focus on, and an increased clinical governance level is believed to increase the quality of health care services as well as employee job satisfaction. The aim of this study is to identify nurses' perceptions of the clinical governance climate and to explain its relationship to their job satisfaction levels. The sample of this research, which was intended to be descriptive, consisted of 248 nurses in a university hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Data were collected using a nurse description form containing nurses' socio-demographic characteristics, a Clinical Governance Climate Questionnaire (CGCQ) and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale. Of the nurses participating in the research, 37.1% were between the ages of 31-35, 66.1% were married and 39.5% held an associate degree in nursing. We found that overall nurses' perceptions of the clinical governance climate were at 180.01±20.63. A statistically significant negative relationship was found between nurses' perception of the clinical governance climate and their job satisfaction levels. As the nurses' intrinsic, extrinsic and overall job satisfaction scores increased, the CGCQ scores decreased. Because the nurses' perception of the clinical governance climate as supportive increased their job satisfaction, we recommended that their managers adopt a management style that is more participatory and flexible and that gives priority to cooperation and sense of security.