Professional careers in nursing: A longitudinal study
At a glance
- Project leader : René Schaffert
- Project team : Andreas Bänziger, Dominik Robin
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Federal government (Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation SBFI)
- Project partner : Schweizerisches Observatorium für die Berufsbildung OBS EHB
- Contact person : René Schaffert
Description
BACKGROUND
In Switzerland, no data of longitudinal studies to professional
careers of nurses exist. Little is known about job retention as
well as why nurses leave their profession.
This project is part of a cooperation between the Swiss
Universities in Health to establish a competence center for
workforce shortage among health professionals. Different
sub-projects will develop basic knowledge and measures.
AIM
This study aims to close this gap by surveying a cohort of Swiss
nurses having entered the profession six years ago. The objective
of the study is therefore to learn more about the professional
careers, specifically about factors influencing the careers in
nursing or the decision to leave the profession.
METHOD
One cohort of graduates of a study programs in nursing either at a
University of Applied Science or at a Colleague of Professional
Education and Training will be surveyed six years after graduation.
These same graduates have already been surveyed in a first study
with two waves of a survey at the end of their studies and one year
after graduation and will now be contacted for a third
online-survey. Further analyses will then be conducted in an
integrated dataset with additional data of a study with health
assistants FaGe (ASSC, OSS) conducted by the Swiss Federal
University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET.
RESULTS
More than 600 nursing graduates from the cohort graduating in
2011/12 took part in the third and final survey around six years
after entering the profession. This corresponds to 38 percent of
all graduates of this year at Swiss colleges of higher education
and universities of applied sciences. With a response rate of 48
percent, healthcare assistants who were surveyed by the SFUVET five
years after entering the profession responded more often. In the
combined data set with nurses and healthcare assistants, there are
around 1400 cases for which data are available from all three
surveys.
As the findings show, that for many graduate nurses the first years
of professional life represent a phase of intensive career
development. They switch frequently between jobs and functions and
deepen their professional knowledge in trainings and continuing
education. The proportion of those who have already left the
profession is still low, compared to later years. However, already
in these early years, it is possible to identify the main reasons
why nurses are leaving the profession or con-sidering doing so: The
current conditions in the nursing profession are too stressful and
contradict the main needs of nurses.
In summary, the results of this study show that with targeted
measures it is possible to prolong healthcare professionals stay in
their profession. First and foremost, the conditions for work-life
balance need to be improved. Possible measures include flexible
working time models adapted to the needs of the staff and greater
regularity in working days and shifts. From the perspective of the
nurses, other approaches could include reduction of stress at work,
higher recognition in the companies and better wages.
Further information
Publications
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Schaffert, René; Trede, Ines; Grønning, Miriam; Hänni, Miriam; Bänziger, Andreas; Robin, Dominik; Helfenstein, Esther,
2021.
Winterthur:
ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-3132
-
Schaffert, René; Bänziger, Andreas,
2021.
In:
2nd International CNHW Conference – «Effective measures to keep our treasures – How to care for health professionals», online, 29-30 April 2021.
-
Schaffert, René; Golz, Christoph,
2020.
Es ist Zeit, Pflegefachpersonen im Beruf zu halten.
Spitex Magazin.
2020(6), pp. 40-41.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-22013
-
Schaffert, René; Trede, Ines; Robin, Dominik,
2020.
Unklare Rollen bei neuen Berufen und Ausbildungen im Pflegebereich beinträchtigen die Zufriedenheit.
Pädagogik der Gesundheitsberufe.
23(1), pp. 67-75.
-
2019.
Berufslaufbahnen und Erwartungen sechs Jahre nach Abschluss.
In:
Pflege wirkt! SBK Kongress 2019, Basel, 16.-17. Mai 2019.
-
2019.
In:
Dreiländerkongress Gesundheits- und Medizinsoziologie 2019, Winterthur, 27.-28. August 2019.
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Schaffert, René; Trede, Ines; Robin, Dominik,
2019.
New educational profiles in the field of nursing affect professional socialization.
In:
Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association 2019: the future of work : book of abstracts.
Congress SSA/SGS/SSS 2019, Neuchâtel, 10-12 September 2019.
Swiss Sociological Association (SSA).
pp. 130.
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Schaffert, René; Robin, Dominik,
2019.
Was Pflegefachpersonen erwarten, um langfristig im Beruf zu bleiben.
Krankenpflege.
2019(06), pp. 25-27.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-18293
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2018.
In:
Swiss Congress for Health Professions, Zürich, 3.-4. September 2018.
Careum Stiftung.
-
2018.
Should I stay or should I go : nursing careers in the first years after graduation.
In:
1st International Conference: «Countering Staff Shortage Among Health Professions», Bern, 25-26 Oktober 2018.
Competence Network Health Workforce.