Nursing and Midwifery in Crisis
Addressing the Global Shortfall
The World Health Organization’s Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery reports that a policy priority for 2021-2025 is to attract, recruit and retain midwives and nurses where they are most needed. This action is needed to address the global nursing shortfall. This shortfall was identified prior to the COVID-19 pandemic:
"We know from the State of the World’s Nursing Report that we went into [the COVID-19] pandemic 6 million nurses short. Add in the nurses who were planning to retire over the next few years, that takes us to a figure of about 10 million”, said Howard Catton, CEO of ICN
Now, with the growing ‘COVID-19 effect’, that figure is up to 13 million, according to the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Policy Brief: The Global Nursing shortage and nurse retention.
The ‘COVID-19 effect’ is what the ICN describes as the ‘mass traumatisation’ of the nursing workforce that poses a danger to the profession and future of health systems globally.
Given that a shortage of nurses and midwives has detrimental impacts on the quality and accessibility of healthcare, there is an urgent need to increase the numbers of these workforces. One strategy is to strengthen the supply of Registered Nurses by increasing capacity in nursing education programs. However, as a recent qualitative systematic review reports, a significant number of nurse graduates do not practice after they graduate or leave the profession shortly after beginning their career.
It is crucial, therefore, that a comprehensive understanding of the factors – environmental and individual - that affect sustainability of these workforces informs strategies developed by graduates, managers, organisations, and policymakers that encourage retention.
Various individual factors include physical and psychological health, professional identity, professional commitment, and development, while workplace culture, engagement, and management are among the environmental factors that can influence retention.
A recent scoping review, Individual and environmental factors that influence longevity of newcomers to nursing and midwifery, is the first step in developing a comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect retention.
The scoping review found three distinct individual and three environmental factors that influence newcomer Registered Nurse intentions to stay in or leave the profession. Factors such as professional self-image, identity, pride in the profession, support from nurse managers, and the transition from academia to practice play a critical role in the retention of newly qualified nursing and midwifery professionals.
Importantly, the review highlights areas where further research is needed to comprehensively understand the factors that influence both graduate Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife retention.
The scoping review will be published in the May 2024 JBI Evidence Synthesis to mark International Day of the Midwife on 5 May 2024 and International Nurses Day on 12 May 2024.
As part of this special issue, editorial, ‘The future of nursing: attrition, innovation, and the path ahead’ accompanies the scoping review.
Resources:
Individual and environmental factors that influence longevity of newcomers to nursing and midwifery: a scoping review
Brown, Janie Alison; Capper, Tanya; Hegney, Desley; Donovan, Helen; Williamson, Moira; Calleja, Pauline; Solomons, Terena; Wilson, Sally
JBI Evidence Synthesis: 10.11124/JBIES-22-00367, September 5, 2023.
DOI: 10.11124/JBIES-22-00367
Nursing students’ experiences of a post-licensure practical nurse bridging program: a qualitative systematic review
McCloskey, Rose; Keeping-Burke, Lisa; Morris, Patricia; Witherspoon, Richelle; Knight, Holly; Cave, Sara
JBI Evidence Synthesis 21(7):p 1359-1407, July 2023 | DOI: 10.11124/JBIES-22-00217
International Day of the Midwife, 5 May 2024
International Nurses Day, 12 May 2024