Recruiting and retaining bachelor qualified nurses in German hospitals (BSN4Hospital): protocol of a mixed-methods design

IntroductionMany countries in Europe are facing a shortage of nurses and seek effective recruitment and retention strategies. The nursing workforce is increasingly diverse in its educational background, ranging from 3-year vocational training (diploma) to bachelor and master educated nurses. This st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ open Vol. 13; no. 8; p. e073879
Main Authors: Maier, Claudia B, Köppen, Julia, Kleine, Joan, McHugh, Matthew D, Sermeus, Walter, Aiken, Linda H
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 10.08.2023
BMJ Publishing Group LTD
BMJ Publishing Group
Series:Protocol
Subjects:
Clinical medicine
Education reform
Employment
Health Education
Hospitals
Human resource management
Job satisfaction
Managers
Medical personnel
Mixed methods research
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing Care
Organisation of health services
Professionals
Qualitative research
Recruitment
Retention
Work environment
Workforce
United States > US
Europe
Germany
Nursing Care
Hospitals
Human resource management
Health Education
Organisation of health services
ISSN:2044-6055, 2044-6055
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:IntroductionMany countries in Europe are facing a shortage of nurses and seek effective recruitment and retention strategies. The nursing workforce is increasingly diverse in its educational background, ranging from 3-year vocational training (diploma) to bachelor and master educated nurses. This study analyses recruitment and retention strategies for academically educated nurses (minimum bachelor), including intention to leave, job satisfaction and work engagement compared with diploma nurses in innovative German hospitals; it explores recruitment and retention challenges and opportunities, and identifies lessons on recruitment and retention taking an international perspective.Methods and analysisThe study will apply a convergent mixed-methods design, including qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative study will include semistructured interviews among hospital managers, nurses, students and stakeholders in Germany. In addition, expert interviews will be conducted internationally in countries with a higher proportion of bachelor/master nurses in hospitals. The quantitative, cross-sectional study will consist of a survey among professional nurses (bachelor/master, diploma nurses) in German hospitals. Study settings are hospitals with a higher-than-average proportion of bachelor nurses or relevant recruitment, work environment or retention strategies in place. Analyses will be conducted in several phases, first in parallel, then combined via triangulation: the parallel analysis technique will analyse the qualitative and quantitative data separately via content analyses (interviews) and descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses (survey). Subsequently, data sources will be collectively analysed via a triangulation matrix focusing on developing thematic exploratory clusters at three systemic levels: microlevel, mesolevel and macrolevel. The analyses will be relevant for generating lessons for clinical nursing, management and policy in Germany and internationally.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was obtained by the Charité Ethics Committee.Several dissemination channels will be used, including publications and presentations, for the scientific community, nursing management, clinical nurses and the wider public in Germany and internationally.
Bibliography:Protocol
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ISSN:2044-6055
2044-6055
DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073879