Developing the future rural nursing workforce: report on a nursing roundtable

BackgroundThere are ongoing health workforce shortages in rural Australia with nurses a major component of the provision of health care. Training for nursing students in rural areas is one strategy to overcome this.AimTo explore possibilities for nursing student rural clinical placements, with a view to increase the length of placements and strengthen the future rural nursing workforce.MethodsA Nursing Roundtable was held in regional Western Australia (WA) with representatives from five Western Australian universities, tertiary providers and service clinical stakeholders. Participants attended site visits to local facilities which included primary, community and hospital-based facilities.FindingsMajor issues identified included short length of nursing placements; inflexibility of bookings via centralised placement databases; financial and family responsibilities inhibiting students taking up placements; quality of on-site supervision; and the availability of graduate programs after qualifying. Participants agreed longer student clinical placements reduced workload for academic and clinical staff allowing students to settle and be industry ready.DiscussionThere was a strengthening of goodwill and willingness of university and clinical stakeholders to work collaboratively to lengthen student placements and consider placements in non-traditional settings to expand student understanding of career possibilities, rural and Indigenous communities, and the underpinning determinants of health.ConclusionBack-to-back practicums or potential to share placements between different organisations were recognised as opportunities for further development. Efforts to increase placement length, broaden experiences and overcome financial barriers need to be addressed. Production of a marketing video to include job potential post-graduating was suggested to attract students.     

The rural pipeline: building a strong nursing workforce through academic and service partnerships

Nurse recruitment and the retention of a high-quality workforce are challenging issues facing rural hospitals and health centers. The Bassett Healthcare Network has met these challenges by building a supportive framework to develop and support nurses at every level of their professional careers. The organization has partnered with local colleges to help staff nurses further their education. These and other partnership endeavors, such as the organization's clinical ladder and collaborative continuing nursing education opportunities, are helping Bassett sustain and grow the nursing workforce across 8 counties in rural upstate New York and develop stronger ties with academic partners.     

Retaining a viable workforce: a critical challenge for nursing

Nursing is facing a crisis nationally and internationall, with Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and Western Europe experiencing critical shortages of nurses. Problems with recruitment, retention and an ageing workforce means that attempts to ensure a viable nursing workforce must be placed at the top of the professional agenda. Strategies currently used to manage the crisis, such as overseas recruitment, are not sustainable and are ethically dubious. The demographic timebomb is ticking and up to half the current nursing workforce will reach retirement age by 2020. It is vital that there are adequate numbers of skilled and qualified nurses to take their places. Nursing and nurses are facing unprecedented challenges and pressures in the workplace. Job satisfaction is threatened as nurses are pressured to do more with less, Nursing productivity has increased phenomenally over the past ten years in response to increased demands and decreasing numbers of staff. The nursing workplace has disturbingly high levels of occupational violence, and many nurses operate within a culture of blame and scapegoating. There is evidence that organizational change is imposed upon nurses with little or no consultation and the literature reveals that this has a direct and negative effect on job satisfaction and on retention of nurses. This paper explores some of the critical issues that nursing must confront to be successful in establishing and maintaining a vigorous, dynamic and viable workforce.     

Comparative analysis of urban and rural nursing workforce shortages in Nebraska hospitals

Current workforce models that rely on economic indicators have seriously underestimated the rural RN shortage and its impact on rural hospitals. This cross-sectional study developed an algorithm using the concept of need and applied it to health service demand data in 66 counties of a midwestern state (1993-2002) to determine trends in RN shortages between urban and rural areas. Results showed that rural areas consistently had the largest gap between predicted need for RNs and numbers employed and that the rural RN shortages were significantly greater than in urban areas. This study suggests that adequate and geographically specific targets of RN need are essential, especially for rural areas, because of policy implications for rural hospital staffing and workforce planning. Inadequate workforce targets perpetuate the shortage, especially in rural areas, and exacerbate the very reasons that RNs leave over concerns for patient safety, inadequate staffing, and job dissatisfaction.     

Job satisfaction among a multigenerational nursing workforce

Aim To explore generational differences in job satisfaction. Background Effective retention strategies are required to mitigate the international nursing shortage. Job satisfaction, a strong and consistent predictor of retention, may differ across generations. Understanding job satisfaction generational differences may lead to increasing clarity about generation‐specific retention approaches. Method The Ontario Nurse Survey collected data from 6541 Registered Nurses. Participants were categorized as Baby Boomer, Generation X or Generation Y based on birth year. Multivariate analysis of variance explored generational differences for overall and specific satisfaction components. Results In overall job satisfaction and five specific satisfaction components, Baby Boomers were significantly more satisfied than Generations X and Y. Conclusion It is imperative to improve job satisfaction for younger generations of nurses. Implications for Nursing Management Strategies to improve job satisfaction for younger generations of nurses may include creating a shared governance framework where nurses are empowered to make decisions. Implementing shared governance, through nurse‐led unit‐based councils, may lead to greater job satisfaction, particularly for younger nurses. Opportunities to self schedule or job share may be other potential approaches to increase job satisfaction, especially for younger generations of nurses. Another potential strategy would be to aggressively provide and support education and career‐development opportunities.     

Web-based teaching in nursing: lessons from the literature

Many in nurse education have partially adopted the Internet as a pedagogical approach. This has highlighted serious contentious issues for educators. These include, pedagogical vs. technological approaches to teaching, face-to-face vs. online communication and classroom vs. online teaching. This paper attempts to reassure educators about this new Internet-based pedagogy, by applying traditional educational theories and discussions on curriculum to web-based teaching. In particular, cognitive learning theories such as constructivism and the process model of curriculum development are discussed. These provide a solid theoretical framework from which to expand the Internet-based pedagogical approach among those whose interest is the promotion of learning. The paper concludes with the implications of web-based teaching for the personal and professional development of nurse educators.