Registered Nurse Employment Behaviour

Posted: 21 Jun 2007

See all articles by Michelle Cunich

Michelle Cunich

University of Sydney

Stephen Whelan

The University of Sydney

Abstract

There is currently a worldwide shortage of registered nurses due in part to the profession being unable to retain nurses in a variety of specialty areas. The nurse shortage, however, is not a new phenomenon. A range of policies have been implemented throughout the last thirty years to increase the retention of this group, especially in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia. A key policy in this regard has been the transfer of nurse education from hospitals to universities. In this paper we examine the effect of training on the employment behaviour of registered nurses in Australia. Using a unique dataset, this paper identifies the determinants of nurse retention within the health care sector in Australia's largest state, New South Wales, during the period from 1986 to 2002. A variety of duration models are estimated, using a 'single-spell and single-exit' hazard model, with and without unobserved heterogeneity. A variety of issues associated with the econometric analysis including censoring, appropriate methods for analyzing discrete survival time data, extensions of the basic hazard model, and data organizational issues are also discussed. Results from the duration models indicate that registered nurses trained at educational institutions in New South Wales are approximately 5.3 per cent more likely to leave the nursing profession, relative to hospital trained nurses. Other groups that exhibit a higher exit rate out of the nursing profession include male nurses, younger nurses, and those working in the private and community sectors, specialized in mental health, working in developmental disability services and in temporary employment. A number of possible reasons for the results identified in the empirical analysis are canvassed. It may be the case that the 'standardization' of nurse training, by converting it into a university degree, has increased the 'mobility of nurse qualifications' and helped to facilitate movement between the nursing market and other labour markets in NSW. In regard to policy implications, this paper does not assert that the shortage of registered nurses is best addressed by a move back to hospital-based training. Rather, the results serve to highlight the role played by training on subsequent labour market behaviour.

Keywords: survival analysis, registered nurse shortage, registered nurse workforce policy

Suggested Citation

Cunich, Michelle and Whelan, Stephen, Registered Nurse Employment Behaviour. iHEA 2007 6th World Congress: Explorations in Health Economics Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=993745

Michelle Cunich (Contact Author)

University of Sydney ( email )

Discipline of Economics H04
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia
+61 2 9351 6943 (Phone)
+ 61 2 9351 4341 (Fax)

Stephen Whelan

The University of Sydney ( email )

University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia
612-9036 9251 (Phone)
612-9351-4341 (Fax)

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