[Employee satisfaction in hospitals - validation of the Picker employee questionnaire: the German version of the "survey of employee perceptions of health care delivery" (Picker Institute Boston)].

AIM: The aim of this study was the validation of a questionnaire specially developed for the German health-care market to measure workplace-related satisfaction of all employees in direct or indirect contact to patients. Beside this, its suitability for use in human resource and quality management was tested.
METHOD: Based on data from a postal survey of 38 054 employees from 37 hospitals a psychometric evaluation was done via exploratory factor analysis and reliability as well as regression analysis. For testing the capability to differentiate, subgroup analyses were conducted.
RESULTS: 14 factors (Cronbach's alpha between 0.6 and 0.9) were extracted, explaining 44% of the variance. The factors leadership and organisational culture, conditions of employment, work load and relationship to direct line manager had the strongest influence on overall employee satisfaction. Age, gender, employment status, and senior position influence job satisfaction or relevant satisfaction-related factors.
CONCLUSIONS: Psychometric properties, the ability to differentiate between employee groups and practicability render the questionnaire well suited for use in human resource and quality management of hospitals. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.