Professor Lin Perry and collaborators Associate Professor Gallagher, Professor Duffield, Professor Sibbritt , Dr Bichel - Findley and Dr Nicholls from the Centre for Health Services and Management (CHSM) came together for a study titled "Does nurses’ health affect their intention to remain in their current position?" [Opens an external website]. The aim of this study was to investigate and describe nurses and midwives physical health, rates of symptoms and disease, and to determine if these factors contribute to intention to leave.
The increasingly ageing Australian population are being cared for by an increasingly ageing nursing workplace. Increasing age is all too often accompanied by increasing health issues, especially where the work is physically demanding. Nursing is facing shortages as the 'baby boomer' generation retire, and ways to retain nurses in the workforce will only gain in priority.
But what role does nurses' health play in their decisions to stay or leave? There has been hardly any research done on the mental health and stress the nurses go through.
The team conducted an online survey of health and work-related assessments, distributed through the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association and professional contacts. Focused on nurses and midwives’ physical health, symptoms and disease, it also sought to determine if these factors contribute to intention to leave.
Over 5,000 nurses and midwives were part of this survey, and though majority reported good health overall, 22.2% intended to leave in the next 12 months. The results ranged from increasing age of the nurses and the demanding requirements of the profession to social and cultural expectations of women to shift work and role that does not match their career expectations
This important study flags the importance of health as an influence on intention to leave and presents opportunities for workplace initiatives to maintain nurses in the workforce.