The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship
between characteristics of refreshed registered nurses and
reemployment in the nursing workforce post Refresher
programme. The application forms completed by the
participants of the six programmes conducted by the ACT
Health Authority (ACTHA, now Department of Community Services
and Health ACT) provided data for a profile analysis.
Employment data was derived mostly from statistics compiled
by the Research Officer, Nursing, ACTHA.
The findings of this study demonstrated that inactive
registered nurses do return to nursing from periods of
non-participation as nurses, following completion of
Refresher programmes. Moreover, significant numbers of these
returning nurses remain in nursing employment. In relation
to that aspect of workforce planning which considers sources
of supply for the registered nurse labour market an area for
further study would be to explore the area of patient care in
which the greater concentration of refreshed nurses were to
be found post programme: acute care settings or extended care
facilities.
The study found that predictions of the successful reentry to
nursing of the individual refreshed nurse and of retention in
the nursing workforce could not be based on the
characteristics of that person, alone. These findings
supported the study's hypothesis that there would be no
statistically significant difference between the
characteristics of refreshed registered nurses who returned
to, and remain in, the nursing workforce and those refreshers
who either did not reenter nursing post programme or who left
during the following twelve months. The characteristics
examined were age, family status, post registration nursing
experience, post registration nursing courses, worked as a
nurse in the ACT prior to the programme, previous employment
status, and time inactive from nursing pre-Refresher
programme.
Trends were identified which indicated that with some
characteristics there was a greater likelihood of post
programme reemployability in nursing. Refreshed nurses who
reentered and remained in the nursing workforce tended to be
younger.than those not working as nurses. There was a trend
for post programme participators in the nursing workforce to
have had fewer years of post registration nursing experience
and to be more likely not to have obtained post registration
nursing qualifications than their counterparts not working in
nursing positions.
Perhaps not surprisingly the study found that a higher
proportion of the refreshers employed as nurses had
previously worked at some stage in ACT health care facilities
as registered nurses. A somewhat unexpected finding was that
amongst the group of refreshed nurses working in nursing the
largest contingent had been inactive from nursing for more
years than was the case for those not working as nurses.
The majority of refreshed registered nurses, whether they
were working as nurses post programme or not had a family
status of partner/husband and child(ren) and were unemployed
before undertaking the Refresher programme.
Refreshed registered nurses have provided a source of supply
to the nursing workforce during a period of shortage of
qualified nurses in the health care system. In the latter
part of the 1980's there have been indications that shortage
is largely confined to nurses with specialised skills. The
findings from this study should assist the nursing profession
in deciding the future role of programmes of reentry for
inactive registered nurses who require reskilling for current
clinical competence for general patient care areas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218645 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Foley, Elizabeth, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Elizabeth Foley |
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