Nurse Practitioner (NP) & Physician Assistant (PA) Job Satisfaction Survey Questions

Burnout is rapidly becoming an epidemic among Nurse Practitioners and Physician Associates. While burnout, and often the resulting APP attrition, is preventable, healthcare employers need to first recognize the issue(s) and identify possible trends in providers most impacted. Many employers are conducting confidential wellness surveys among their NPs and PAs to better understand indicators of job satisfaction and areas for improvement.

Why Are Nurse Practitioner & Physician Associate Job Satisfaction Surveys Important?

The responsibilities of NPs and PAs has significantly expanded in recent years, and consequently, so has the associated level of stress and turnover. This has led many organizations to disseminate wellness-based surveys, specifically to NPs and PAs, to gain valuable insights on job satisfaction, engagement, quality metrics, and turnover. Satisfaction surveys can also be used to understand APP confidence, levels of competency in various categories, perceived access to necessary resources, and can help identify providers most at risk.

Watch the full webinar, How to Operationalize Your Transition to Practice Program

Once collected, data can be leveraged to indicate if there are any identifiable trends. For example, are the least satisfied APPs newer to their career? APP leads should share key findings and indicators with senior leadership to develop a strategy that will target the highest risk providers. APP data will provide a valuable opportunity to structure meaningful programs, specifically for NPs and PAs, helping them feel successful, increasing job satisfaction and retention. Overall, listening to your providers will help you, as their employer, make better decisions, improve organizational health, identify areas where more support is needed, and improve retention rates.

How Often Should You Survey Nurse Practitioner & Physician Associate Job Satisfaction?

For employers to develop baseline data that will allow for ongoing progress tracking, surveys need to be conducted on a regular basis. Deciding on what cadence makes most sense for your organization could rely on several factors. For instance, how often are you onboarding APPs? How often are you measuring organizational KPIs that would be impacted by this information?  

In a rapidly evolving industry like healthcare, capturing data on employee experience at least once a year is critical to understanding and responding to your organizations ever-changing needs. Besides, it’s easier to gain buy-in for new initiatives, like fellowship programs, when you have data to back your suggestions. (greatplacetowork.com) 

Once you have operationalized a process for analyzing and reacting appropriately to your PA and NP Job Satisfaction Survey, consider surveying more frequently: bi-annually, or even quarterly. The essential factor is to communicate feedback, while maintaining confidentiality, from the responses. If APPs feel the results are being analyzed to better their job satisfaction, they will be more willing to participate in future surveys and feel gratitude for the opportunity to share their experiences—making an immediate impact on their satisfaction.

88 Nurse Practitioner & Physician Associate Job Satisfaction Survey Questions

In developing your PA and NP Job Satisfaction Survey, you should consider including multiple areas that all impact the provider’s experience, such as:

• Comfortability & Confidence in Specific Categories
• Training & Career Development Opportunities
• Inclusion & Belonging 
• Team Experience
• Experience with Management 

You will also want to consider the format of questions you ask and how that will impact your ability to analyze responses. One of the most common question formats for wellness surveys is the Likert Scale. According to SurveyMonkey, “Likert scale questions give respondents a range of options—for example, starting at ‘not at all likely’ scaling all the way up to ‘extremely likely’. That’s why they work well to understand specific feedback. For example, survey questions for employees often use a Likert scale to measure their opinions or attitudes on a range of topics.” Below are some example Likert scale questions you could use in your survey:

Scale Job Satisfaction Survey Questions for NPs & PAs

Please answer each of the following questions by indicating on the scale which level you most accurately identify with: (scale: strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree)

1. My work challenges me
2. My work is meaningful
3. My work defines me
4. I feel my skills are utilized and appreciated 
5. I feel I am an important and respected member of my team
6. I feel supported by my team
7. I feel appropriately awarded for my performance
8. I feel overwhelmed by my patient care responsibilities
9. I feel overwhelmed by my workload
10. I feel my work is overlooked
11.  I feel my feedback is important
12. I feel I have an appropriate work/life balance
13. I feel the expectations of my role are realistic
14. I feel comfortable asking my manager questions about new situations and   procedures
15. I feel comfortable asking my team questions about new situations and procedures
16. I feel comfortable communicating with my patients and their families
17. I feel confident in my level of medical knowledge (specific clinical topics or categories could be listed)
18. I feel supported by the physicians I work with
19. I feel my opinion matters to my peers
20. I feel my opinion matters to my manager
21. I feel there is bias towards my role
22. I feel my time is respected
23. I feel I make a difference with patient care
24. I feel (organization) acts ethically towards patient care
25. I feel (organization) acts ethically towards employees
26. I feel (organization) is committed to a safe environment for all backgrounds, beliefs, and cultural experiences
27. I feel (organization) treats all employees with fairness and equity
28. I feel stress in my personal life
29. I feel well compensated for my work 
30. I feel comfortable reporting an issue if one were to arise
31. I feel decisions made about promotions and growth opportunities are made fairly
32. I feel (organization) values diverse opinions and ideas)
33. I feel senior leadership is well equipped to manage a diverse workforce
34. I feel I have adequate CME/CE allowance
35. I feel I am lacking in CME/CE allowance
36. I feel there is an investment made in my future at (organization)
37. I would like to have a formalized mentorship program at (organization)
38. I would like more autonomy in my role 
39. I would change aspects of my role given the opportunity
40. I would like to be working at (organization) 5 years from now
41. I have been in my role as long as I would like to be
42. I would encourage peers to work at (organization)
43. I have access to the resources I need to effectively perform my role
44. I have a mentor at (organization) I look to for guidance and education
45. I have considered moving to another organization in the past year
46. If situations were different, I would consider finding another job
47. If an instance of harassment, discrimination, inappropriate or unprofessional behavior were to happen, I feel confident (organization) would take appropriate action 
48. I am proud to say I work at (organization)
49. I am likely to look for a job outside of (organization)
50. I am included in decisions that impact my role
51. I rarely work after hours
52. I often consult my manager on patient cases 
53. I rarely consult my manager on patient cases 
54. My manager provides timely, effective feedback
55. My manager provides balanced feedback
56. My manager provides encouragement
57. My manager helps with professional development
58. My team respects me
59. My team is knowledgeable 
60. My team is collaborative
61. (Organization) motivates me to contribute more than is normally required to complete my work
62. (Organization) is committed to supporting me in my career goals and aspirations
63. (Organization) provides ample growth opportunities 
64. (Organization) provides adequate skill development and training opportunities 
65. I am proud to say I work at (organization)
66. I am likely to look for a job outside of (organization)
67. I am included in decisions that impact my role
68. Overall, I feel my career goals can be met as (organization)

Likert Scale Job Satisfaction Survey Questions for NPs & PAs 

Please answer each of the following questions by indicating on the scale how satisfied you are with the following aspects of your career: (Likert scale: very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, satisfied, very satisfied)

69. Salary
70. Benefits
71. Flexibility 
72. Volume of patients seen
73. Career advancement opportunities 
74. Quality of care I am able to provide
75. Paid time-off
76. Timeliness of schedule being made available
77. Shifts I am scheduled 
78. Level of encouragement
79. Managerial feedback 
80. Onboarding
81. Overall communication

Open Forum Job Satisfaction Survey Questions for NPs & PAs

The Likert scale format questions will be easy to quantify and analyze but you may feel you need more detailed responses in specific areas. Some open forum question you could consider are:

82. Please describe ways in which you have received praise and recognition for your job:
83. How would you prefer to receive recognition?
84. Please describe your professional growth goals for the next:
    • One year:
    • Five years:
85. Please describe ways you have been supported in your professional growth goals:
86. Please describe what keeps you working at (organization)? (examples could include: competitive benefits & salary, continued educational opportunities, time off, my team, types of patient care performed, autonomy, etc.)
87. Please describe what could cause you to leave (organization)?
88. What do you think (organization) could do to improve your role?

There may be some overlap or similarities in these questions, but they can be used as a first step to help you develop the most impactful survey for your organization and APPs. Remember to collect key demographic information so you can identify trends. You will want to know how long the provider has been in practice, how long they have been practicing at your organization, gender identity, age, and so on. 

Increase Physician Assistant & Nurse Practitioner Job Satisfaction with ThriveAP!

Offering a post-graduate education opportunity for your APPs as they transition into clinical practice will help decrease burnout, turnover, and achieve a higher overall job satisfaction.

Watch the full webinar, The Evolution of Transition to Practice: Developing Confident APPs

We have found that providers participating in the ThriveAP program feel more supported by their employers and experience accelerated competency, leading to better patient care, autonomy, and more confident APPs. Learn more about the ThriveAP educational solution.

You may also be interested in our Advanced Practice Provider Onboarding Checklist