‘Being young’: a qualitative study of younger nurses' experiences in the workplace

Abstract

Managers and nurse leaders must address broader workforce issues as well as improving support for younger nurses to help improve younger nurse retention. Strategies designed to extend and challenge younger nurses in the workplace such as professional development and project work will also help, but will only be effective if nurses are given sufficient paid time to undertake this work. Being Asian provides added challenges for younger nurses in New Zealand and further research into the experiences of this subgroup is highly recommended.

Valuing complex and diverse career pathways: the career trajectories and career-related choices of early career practitioners

“…Furthermore, there is limited consistency regarding length of time since graduation for ECP research participants, with some studies including practitioners with years of postqualification work experience varying from less than one (see, for instance, Pack 2015;and Read & Laschinger 2015), one (Jack & Donnellan 2010), two (Laschinger 2012), three (Laschinger et al 2016;Pfaff, Baxter, Jack & Ploeg 2014;Rudman & Gustavsson 2011;and Smith, Andrusyszy & Laschinger 2010), four (Huntington, Gilmour, Neville, Kellett & Turner 2012), five (Djukic, Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi & Greene 2014;Gray et al 2012;Hewitt, Lackey & Letvak 2013;and North, Leung & Lee 2013), and ten (Ulrich et al 2010), to up to fifteen (Clark, Smith & Uota 2013). Other researchers (see, for instance, Clendon & Walker 2012;and Flinkman, Laine, Leino-Kilpi, Hasselhorn & Salantera 2008) define ECPs as practitioners aged under 30 years. Yet another definition, adopted by Price et al (2013), includes first year nursing students born in 1980 or later.…”

“…Their distinctive personal attributes are reportedly hopefulness, resilience, practicality, open-mindedness, independence and self-assuredness (Clendon & Walker 2012). They purportedly have less respect for leaders than those from other generations, yearn for responsibility (Broadbridge, Maxwell & Ogden 2007) and have a strong sense of entitlement (Deal, Altman & Rogelberg 2010).…”

“…Attraction and retention issues have significant implications for both the financial costs of healthcare and for quality of care for clients (Rudman & Gustavsson 2011;and Ulrich et al 2010). As existing healthcare workforces age, and morbidity and mortality rates in the general population climb, it is becoming increasingly important to attract ECPs to the HCSA industry and retain them there (Clendon & Walker 2012;and Pfaff et al 2014).…”

“…Such factors relate broadly to employment conditions, role clarity and staffing. With regard to employment conditions, there is evidence to suggest that the particularly influential factors in relation to ECP retention are the length of time that they are expected to be at work each day (Hewitt et al 2013); the expectation that they do shift work (Clendon & Walker 2012); their salary and Clendon & Walker 2012); their ability to work in flexible ways such that family responsibilities can be fulfilled (Price et al 2013); and their access to CPD opportunities Hewitt et al 2013;Hussein, Moriarty, Stevens, Sharpe & Manthorpe 2014;and Laschinger et al 2016), supervision 10 and/or mentoring (Benton 2016;and Jack & Donnellan 2010). The ability of ECPs to participate in workplace decisions is linked with both retention rates (Ishihara et al 2013;Laschinger 2012;and Laschinger et al 2016) and job satisfaction (Laschinger et al 2016;and Pineau Stam et al 2015).…”

“…For example, certain client populations are identified in the literature as potentially especially stressful for ECPs, a point exemplified by dying patients for nurses (Clendon & Walker 2012) and clients of child welfare programs for social workers (see, for example, Benton 2016; Clark et al 2013; Morazes, Benton, Clark & Jacquet 2010;and Shier et al 2013). Working with people who have been diagnosed with mental illness can also prove challenging for ECPs, an element addressed in detail in Section 2.4 of this chapter.…”