The Impact of Work-Life Balance Initiatives on Job Satisfaction Among Critical Care Nurses

Posted: Mar 05, 2021

• Eliza Fisher
• Shane Matthews
• Lennon Hart

Abstract

The nursing profession, particularly within critical care settings, represents one of the most demanding occupations in contemporary healthcare systems. Critical care nurses operate in environments characterized by high-stakes decision-making, emotional intensity, and unpredictable workflow patterns. These occupational characteristics create unique challenges for achieving sustainable work-life balance, which in turn influences job satisfaction, retention rates, and ultimately patient care quality. While substantial research has examined job satisfaction among nurses broadly, the specific intersection of work-life balance initiatives and job satisfaction in critical care nursing remains inadequately explored through innovative methodological approaches. This study addresses a significant gap in the literature by employing a novel mixed-methods framework that transcends traditional survey-based approaches. Previous research has typically conceptualized work-life balance as a unidimensional construct primarily concerned with scheduling flexibility and time management. However, our preliminary investigations suggested that for critical care nurses, work-life balance encompasses complex interactions between temporal, emotional, and cognitive dimensions that extend beyond conventional work-hour considerations. The psychological carryover of critical care experiences into personal life, and vice versa, creates unique challenges that standard work-life balance