Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T17:11:18.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Retaining therapy radiographers: What’s so special about us?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Heidi Probst  and
Sue Griffiths
Heidi Probst*
Affiliation:
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Sue Griffiths
Affiliation:
Cookridge Hospital, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
*
Correspondence to: Heidi Probst, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK. Email: H.Probst@shu.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

High therapist vacancy rates and an unsatisfied workforce reduce the opportunity to meet waiting time targets or maintain high standards of care. Current vacancy rates may conceal true staff shortages because of financial pressures. Levels of job satisfaction among the therapy radiographer workforce are presently unknown. A multi-phase study to investigate job satisfaction of therapy radiographers in the United Kingdom is under way. Phase I was an interpretive grounded theory study and, as interviews progressed, a review of the literature on job satisfaction was warranted (in line with the principles of grounded theory). The purpose of this article is to evaluate the literature on job satisfaction as a way to inform the development of retention strategies within the radiotherapy profession. The discussion is focused under the following three themes identified from our phase I study: job design, leadership and organisational governance, stress and burnout. A number of models within the wider literature can inform retention strategies for radiotherapy managers. In particular, the job characteristics model and the model for job-specific well-being adequately identify factors that are relevant to the work of a therapy radiographer. Ensuring mental challenge through job design and continuing professional development opportunities is vital to retaining staff. Support from immediate managers is also a crucial aspect of workers development of intentions to leave. Manager support can moderate experiences of job stress, limiting job dissatisfaction and reducing leaving intentions. Stress and burnout have been cited as significant in reducing job satisfaction in health workers. In the United States, high levels of emotional exhaustion among radiation therapists highlight the potential for the development of burnout within the UK therapy workforce. The discussion looks at the importance of these characteristics within a general retention strategy and recommends future areas of study.

Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 21 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Vacancy Tables – Department of Health. Department of Health, 2003.Google Scholar
Abraham, M, Jackson, M. Therapeutic Radiography Establishment/Vacancy Survey, October 2003.Google Scholar
Vacancy Table – Department of Health. Department of Health, 2005.Google Scholar
College of Radiographers, University of Central England, Anglia Polytechnic University, and University Birmingham NHS Trust Clinical Education and Training. Capacity and Quality, 2004.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics. Cancer Registration Statistics 1993, MBI No. 26; 1999.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics. Cancer Registration Statistics 2003, MB1 No. 34; 2005.Google Scholar
Board of the Faculty of Clinical Oncology Equipment. Workload and Staffing for Radiotherapy in Scotland 1997–2003, 2005.Google Scholar
Department of Health. The NHS Plan, A Plan for Investment, A Plan for Reform, 2000.Google Scholar
Department of Health Meeting. The Challenge: A Strategy for the Allied Health Professions, 2002.Google Scholar
College of Radiographers. A Strategy for the Education and Professional Development of Radiographers, 2002.Google Scholar
Ruchmer, R, Pallis, G. Inter-professional working: the wisdom of integrated working and the disaster of blurred boundaries. Public Money Manage 2002; 23(1): 59–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyal, L, Cameron, A. Reshaping the NHS workforce. Br Med J 2000; 320: 1023–1024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kresl, JJ, Drummond, RL. A historical perspective of the radiation oncology workforce and ongoing initiatives to impact recruitment. Int J Rad Oncol Biol Phys 2004; 60(1): 8–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, EG, Hogan, NL, Barton, SM. The impact of job satisfaction on turnover intent: a test of a structural measurement model using a national sample of workers. Social Sci J 2001; 38233–38250.Google Scholar
Janssen, PPM, de Jonge, J, Bakker, AB. Specific determinants of intrinsic work motivation, burnout and turnover intentions: a study among nurses. J Adv Nursing 1999; 29(6): 1360–1369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, M. Rational Workmen, Incompetent Managers. In: Industrial Behaviour. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988. pp 23–35.Google Scholar
Maslow, A. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row, 1954.Google Scholar
McGregor, D. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.Google Scholar
Hertzberg, F. Work and the Nature of Man. London: Staples Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Judge, TA. Promote Job Satisfaction through Mental Challenge. In: Locke, EA (ed). Handbook of Principles of Organisational Behaviour. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. pp 75–89.Google Scholar
Warr, P. The Study of Well-being, Behaviour and Attitudes. In: Warr, P (ed). Psychology at Work. London: Penguin Books, 2002. pp 1–25.Google Scholar
Arnold, J, Loan-Clarke, J, Coombs, Crispin, Bosley, Sara, Caroline, Martin. Push and Pull – Why Allied Health Professionals Stay in, Leave or Return to the NHS. Views of Professionals Inside and Outside the NHS, 2006.Google Scholar
Ference, TP, Stoner, JAF, Warren, EK. Managing the career plateau. Acad Manage Rev 1977; 2: 602–612.Google Scholar
Chao, GTExploration of the conceptualisation and measurement of career plateau: a comparative analysis. J Manage 1990; 16(1): 181–193.Google Scholar
Lee, PCB. Going beyond career plateau – using professional plateau to account for work outcomes. J Manage Dev 2003; 22(6): 538–551.Google Scholar
McNeese-Smith, DK. A content analysis of staff nurse descriptions of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. J Adv Nursing 1999; 29 (6):1332–1341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makanjee, CR, Hartzer, YF, Uys, IL. The effect of perceived organisational support on organisational commitment of diagnostic imaging radiographers. Radiography 2006; 12118–12126.Google Scholar
Firth, LHow can managers reduce employee intention to quit? J Manage Psychol 2004; 19(2): 170–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organisations. Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis. Executive Summary Web page, 2004.Google Scholar
Curtis, P, Ball, L, Kirkham, M. Bullying and horizontal violence: cultural or individual phenomena? Br J Midwifery 2006; 14(4): 218–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, P, Ball, L, Kirkham, M. Management and morale: challenges in contemporary maternity care. Br J Midwifery 2006; 14(2): 100–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleinman, CS. Leadership: a key strategy in staff nurse retention. J Contin Educ Nursing 2004; 35(3): 128–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleinman, C. The relationship between managerial leadership behaviors and staff nurse retention hospital. Topics 2004; 82(4): 2–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiok Foong Loke, J. Leadership behaviours: effects on job satisfaction, productivity and organizational commitment. J Nursing Manage 2001; 9(4): 191–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zapf, D. Emotion work and psychological well-being: a review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Human Res Manage Rev 2002; 12(2): 237–268.Google Scholar
Blau, G, Tatum, DS, Ward-Cook, K. Correlates of work exhaustion for medical technologists. J Allied Health 2003; 32(3): 148–155.Google ScholarPubMed
Schaufeli, W, Enzmann, D. What Is It: Symptoms and Definitions. In: The Burnout Companion to Study and Practice: A Critical Analysis. London: Taylor and Francis, 1998. pp 19–42.Google Scholar
Lee, RT, Ashforth, BE. A Meta-analytic examination of the correlates of the three dimensions of job burnout. J Appl Psychol 1996; 81: 123–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akroyd, P, Caison, A, Adams, RD. Burnout in radiation therapists: the predicitve value of selected stressors. Int J Rad Oncol Biol Phys 2002; 52(3): 816–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbara, L, Jackson, LD, Schulze, K, Math, M, Groome, PA, Foroudi, F, Delaney, GP, Mackillop, WJ. Performance of different radiotherapy workload models. Int J Rad Oncol Biol Phys 2003; 55(4): 1143–1149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, S, Delaney, G, Jalaludin, B. An assessment of basic treatment equivalent at Cookridge hospital. Clin Oncol 2002; 14(5): 399–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ludwick, R, Cipriano Silva, M. Errors, the nursing shortage and ethics: survey results. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 2003; August 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar