Happiness: Bhutanese Nurses, Who Work in One of the Happiest Districts, Perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACT            Happiness is not only important to our personal lives, but is also important to our global community. Happiness in nursing is of vital importance to motivate nurses to demonstrate their competency with interest to work beyond what they are supposed to do, adding to the quality of care through patient or customer satisfaction, improving the organizational product and profiting through transformation of workforce attitude of willingness. This qualitative research study explored the perspective of nurses working in the happiest district in the Eastern region of Bhutan, through qualitative enquiry, to find the real world of nurses working in this district. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 nurses in one of the hospitals in Eastern Bhutan. The findings in this study generated four major sections: (1) Happiness, (2) Factors that influence the feelings of happiness, (3) Job related factors that influence feelings of happiness, and (4) Job related factors that should be changed, including an independent nursing organization, better incentives and benefits for nurses, regular and justice training or education for nurses. There are two interesting implications for practice, an implication for the organizational level and at the government or policy making level.