THE NURSE RETENTION

The Nurse Retention

Abstract

Increasing mobility of healthcare professionals has led to concerns that certain countries or regions are depleted of sufficient staff to meet healthcare needs. In formulating appropriate strategies to ensure better retention locally, human resource managers are hindered by lack of information about migration patterns. Purposes included studying movement of diploma nurses qualifying in England and contributing to literature on developing methods for obtaining migration data. Specific aims ascertained: regional variation in retention of locally trained nurses; associations between nurses' profile and retention in training region; and impact on each region of inter-regional movement of nurses. Questionnaires sent to a nationally representative cohort of adult branch nurses at qualification (n=1596) and at subsequent intervals thereafter provided data on all employment and other activities and geographical location of each. Event histories constructed from chart data were used to analyse length of retention in region of training and movements between regions. Retention was operationalised through developing the construct 'engagement with nursing'.

Table of Content

CHAPTER ONE4

INTRODUCTION4

Nursing retention and recruitment strategies5

Developing retention strategies through understanding trends in migration8

Studying the movement of diplomate nurses: purpose and aims11

Operational definitions12

Defining engagement with nursing12

Identifying place of work14

CHAPTER TWO41

LITERATURE REVIEW41

Stereotypical influences49

Hidden advantage56

Educational difficulties59

Implications for nurse educators and future research63

METHODOLOGY97

Sample selection97

CHAPTER FOUR99

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS99

Data collection99

Data analysis100

CHAPTER FIVE102

CONCLUSION102

Chapter One

Introduction

Aspects of the increasing mobility of the healthcare SQUH, nationally and internationally, are of growing concern; in particular, the adverse effects that may be created for regions and countries depleted of staff recruited to work elsewhere. Recommendations to ensure better distribution of staffing resources are long-standing, as is the recognition that this requires accurate and timely data, comparable within and across national borders. Such data are, however, notable by their inadequacy or absence. The study reported here focused on movement from region of training of diploma nurses qualifying in Oman. As well as contributing to the international literature on migration and providing specific information for Sultanate of Oman SQUH planners, the paper also considers problems that may be entailed in obtaining data about healthcare professionals' patterns of migration.

The aims of the study were formulated in the context of staff shortages, the development of strategies to counteract this problem and a specific Sultanate of Oman dimension of concern about loss of healthcare staff from areas with high costs of living.

Nursing retention and recruitment strategies

At a time of growing demand globally for healthcare, many countries are experiencing staff shortages (O'Brien-Pallas et al., 2005) and particularly of nurses (WHO, 2000; International Council of Nurses, 2002). These shortages, usually expressed as the proportion of posts remaining vacant within a given period (Zurn et al., 2005), often conceal regional and service differences (Buchan, 2000a). In Oman for example, nursing vacancy rates vary considerably by healthcare administrative region and particular services.

While nursing shortages have been cyclical (International Council of Nurses, 2002; Antonazzo et al., 2003), it is thought unlikely that supply will again outpace demand (Buchan, 2000a). Moreover, modernisation of healthcare systems in countries such as the Sultanate of Oman, depend on substantial increases in nurse numbers ...