Temporal and Contextual Variations in Job Satisfaction Between Physicians and Nurses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Narymbayeva N. Kamaliev M. Juszkiewicz K.T. Kanafyanova K. Aliyeva S. Aitambayeva N. Nazarova L. Moiynbayeva S. Saktapov A. Svetlanova S.
December 2025 Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

Healthcare (Switzerland)
2025 #13 Issue 23

Highlights: What are the main findings? No consistent or clinically meaningful differences in job satisfaction were found between physicians and nurses across the COVID-19 periods. Setting-specific patterns emerged: physicians reported slightly higher satisfaction in emergency care during the pandemic and in mixed settings post-pandemic, while nurses reported higher satisfaction in primary care after the pandemic. What are the implications of the main findings? Job satisfaction is shaped more by organizational context, workload, and historical timing than by professional role alone. Efforts to enhance workforce well-being should prioritize modifiable factors—such as workload management, staffing adequacy, and interprofessional collaboration—tailored to specific care environments. Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated differences in job satisfaction scores between nurses and physicians, examining variation by (a) care setting (hospital, emergency department, outpatient, mixed), and (b) time period (pre-COVID, during COVID, post-COVID). Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and CINAHL for studies published between January 2020 and July 2025. Eligible studies reported mean and standard deviation values for job satisfaction among physicians and nurses in healthcare settings across the specified timeframes. Studies were excluded if they assessed other types of satisfaction or combined data across COVID periods. Pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) was calculated using random-effects models in R. Results: Before COVID-19, the SMD was −2.40 (95% CI −8.05 to 3.26; I² = 98%). During the pandemic, the estimate was 1.39 (95% CI −0.57 to 3.35; I² = 91.5%), and post-pandemic, it remained small (SMD = 0.29; 95% CI −1.63 to 2.22; I² = 95.8%). Emergency care during COVID showed a significant advantage for physicians (SMD = 0.29; 95% CI 0.05 to 0.52; I² = 0%). Post-COVID, mixed settings slightly favored physicians (SMD = 0.06), while primary care favored nurses (SMD = −0.30); subgroup differences were significant. Conclusions: The findings reveal that job satisfaction is not solely determined by professional role but is significantly influenced by temporal and contextual factors. Job satisfaction is shaped more by temporal and contextual factors than by professional role. While no consistent differences were observed pre-pandemic, emergency care favored physicians during COVID, and post-pandemic trends showed modest advantages for nurses in primary care and physicians in mixed settings. Due to the methodological limitations of this meta-analysis, including high heterogeneity, reliance on cross-sectional data, and very low/low certainty of evidence, these results should be interpreted with caution.

COVID-19 pandemic , emergency care , healthcare settings , interprofessional collaboration , job satisfaction , meta-analysis , nurses , physicians , primary care , systematic review , workforce well-being

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Department of Healthcare Management, Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Health Department, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, 1092 AD, Netherlands
Emergency Department and Hospitalization Bureau Portal, Kazakh Institute of Oncology and Radiology, Almaty, 050022, Kazakhstan
Department of Gynecology, National Hospital of the Medical Center of the Presidential Administration, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Department of Public Health and Social Sciences, Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH”, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and EBM, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Department of Science and Consulting, Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan
Department of Public Health, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, 050012, Kazakhstan
Department of Nursing, Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH”, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan

Department of Healthcare Management
Health Department
Emergency Department and Hospitalization Bureau Portal
Department of Gynecology
Department of Public Health and Social Sciences
Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH
Department of Science and Consulting
Department of Epidemiology
Department of Public Health
Department of Nursing

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