Nurses' quality of working life in an HMO: a comparative study.

Three dimensions of the quality of nurses' working life in a health maintenance organization--job satisfaction, job tension, and organizational commitment--were studied. Subjects included 50 licensed vocational nurses, 47 registered nurses, and 14 nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners registered a statistically significant higher level of job satisfaction than RNs and LVNs; RNs registered a statistically significant higher level than LVNs. Nurse practitioners reported more job tension than RNs or LVNs, and RNs reported more than LVNs, but the differences were not significant. Differences among the groups were not significant for organizational commitment, but NPs expressed the highest level of commitment.