Abstract
OBJECTIVE: to evaluate job satisfaction and its relationship with the personal and professional characteristics of the nursing team. METHOD: a descriptive and cross-sectional study with 163 nursing workers from the intensive care units of a teaching hospital. For data collection, the Brazilian version of the Job Satisfaction Survey and a personal and professional characterization form were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, comparisons and correlations. RESULTS: the professionals demonstrated ambivalence for job satisfaction in a global way and concerning the communication domain. They were satisfied with the supervision, co-workers, and nature of work, while dissatisfied with other domains. There was a correlation between the intention to stay in the job and the majority of the Job Satisfaction Survey domains, except for co-workers and operating procedures, and a correlation between time working at the unit and at the institution with the domains pay, contingent rewards, and supervision. CONCLUSION: there was an ambivalence regarding job satisfaction and the variables intention of stay in the job and time working at the unit and at the institution were correlated with job satisfaction concerning the domains pay, contingent rewards, and supervision.