University of Perpetual Help System Laguna
City of Biñan, Laguna, Philippines, 4024
www.uphsl.edu.ph
ARTICLE: Relations between task delegation and job satisfaction in general practice: a systematic
literature review by Helle Riisgaard, Jørgen Nexøe, Jette V. Le, Jens Søndergaard and Loni
Ledderer, 2016
PART I. SUMMARY
In general practice, it has been debated for years whether healthcare professionals must be
engaged to a greater degree in patient care. Research on task delegation in general practice is
progressively growing, however the literature concentrating on its effect on the satisfaction of
healthcare professionals and their colleagues seems to be limited, while job satisfaction is
recognized as a large determinant linked with both patient satisfaction and the quality of medical
care. Furthermore, the main objective of this analysis was 1) to examine the current research on
the relationship among task delegation and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals and their
colleagues, and 2) to review the relationship between task delegation and job satisfaction of
healthcare professionals.
This analysis is a systematic literature review. The researcher searched the four databases
PubMed, Cinahl, Embase, and Scopus systematically. The immediate relevance of the retrieved
articles was evaluated by title and abstract by the first author, and papers that seemed to meet the
aim of the review were then fully read by first author and last author independently judging the
eligibility of content.
In the study, it discussed four researches. It discussed the employee's attitudes and beliefs,
including nurses and general practitioners. All but one of the mentioned studies also discussed the
opinions and attitudes of general practitioners, making it difficult to build any analysis on this
relationship. As per the studies, the general attitude of the staff towards task delegation was
optimistic and contributed to improved job satisfaction, possibly because a greater degree of work
autonomy consisted of task delegation
The few studies used within the analysis indicate that task delegation in general practice can be
viewed in general as a positive concern that leads to the satisfaction of their work, mainly because
of their perceived work autonomy. That being said, because of the limited data that involves only
qualitative research, and because of the variability of these studies, while it point to patterns, it do
not draw unambiguous conclusions.
University of Perpetual Help System Laguna
City of Biñan, Laguna, Philippines, 4024
www.uphsl.edu.ph
PART II. REFLECTION
The standard of care for patients is important and should be taken into account when organizing
general practice. Some studies defined quality of care as essential quality indicators, along with
patient satisfaction, and they were evaluated for the delegation of tasks. While job satisfaction has
been correlated with the standard of treatment, this implied relationship is comparatively few studies.
This analysis found that task delegation enhances the job satisfaction of the practice professionals
and that, through this new way of working, the purpose for this relationship should first and foremost
be attributable to their experienced autonomy. Delegating tasks to employees provides them with a
sense of purpose and can lead to increased job satisfaction.
The nurses were generally satisfied with their job in which they performed various tasks delegated
by the GPs. In the nurses’ perspective, this satisfaction was mainly due to the autonomy they
enjoyed following the new way of working. However, they experienced an increase in workload and
did not feel appreciated for their extra efforts and responsibilities, neither financially, nor in terms of
advancement or involvement in decision-making.
In journal analysis it found that good communication with more experienced health care
professionals and access to the right information is particularly important to the staff’s confidence
and autonomy in order to make clinical decisions, and that the lack of it was contributory to their
experience of not being able to care adequately for the patients. Hence professional development
and teamwork were related to the staff’s confidence and experience of autonomy, which they
perceived as influencing their provision of high-quality care.
This study also discussed regarding Hackman and Oldham ‘s job characteristic model in which
certain features of a job could be used as tools for motivating employees as well as for diagnosing
existing working conditions. The model consisted of five core job dimensions leading to three critical
psychological states each contributing to desired personal and work-related outcomes. The five core
job dimensions were skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Skill
variety, task identity, and task significance together lead to the critical psychological state of
meaningfulness of work, autonomy leads to the experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work,
and feedback is the only way an employee can obtain knowledge of how well he or she is performing
in the job. Each psychological state contributes to high internal work motivation, high quality work
performance, high satisfaction with the job, and low absenteeism and turnover
University of Perpetual Help System Laguna
City of Biñan, Laguna, Philippines, 4024
www.uphsl.edu.ph
The study also found that appreciation should also be discussed when delegating work to workers
for increased responsibilities.
PART III. APPLICATION
As hospital administrator, it is imperative that we need to practice effectively the principles of
delegation in order to reach job satisfaction of employees in the workplace.
The nursing service is the largest department in a hospital and is responsible for all aspects of
patient care 24 hours each day. However, nurses are hampered by the lack of delegation of
authority. If they are not given the authority they need, they cannot delegate their responsibilities at
the appropriate levels and they may experience job dissatisfaction, high turnover rates, high
absenteeism rates and inability to provide quality health care.
It is very important that nurses should receive appropriate authority and autonomy in performing
delegated task and responsibilities. Having balanced authority will give nurses to execute their
activities easily and smoothly without harming the patient, it will give nurses the liberty to
communicate, coordinate and collaborate with other healthcare team member for the efficient and
quality medical and nursing care to patients.
Granting autonomy to nurses is also a big factor for them to carry out necessary delegated
responsibilities successfully. They will feel that they are being empowered to decide, plan, and
execute appropriate interventions to care the patients. Giving enough autonomy nurses will not feel
that they are being monitored and evaluated their activities frequently.
The primary benefit of this effective delegation to nurses are; increased patient satisfaction, good
relationship between superiors and staff, nurses and doctors and among employees.xs