Choices of Work by New Nurse Graduates and Opinions on Policy towards Incentives and Rural Retention - การตัดสินใจของพยาบาลจบใหม่กับความเห็นต่อนโยบายจูงใจและธำรงพยาบาลให้ปฏิบัติงานในชนบท

Abstract

          This cohort study investigated choices of work by new nurse graduates, opinions towards policy interventions on rural retention and consistency between nurse students’ intention to work and their actual work. The samples were all 342 nurse students about to graduate from Ministry of Public Health Nursing Colleges in the North, Northeast, Central and South regions of Thailand. Data were collected by a cross-sectional self-administered baseline questionnaire when they were about to graduate and another follow up self-administered questionnaire three months after graduation. The results illustrated that majority of samples actually had chosen to work in public hospitals, considering job security as the most critical factor in making their choices. It was reported that 8.3 percent had chosen to work in private hospitals based on high income. The majority of the samples had chosen to work in health facilities located in their home town, except those from college in the Central region opted for working either in the institutes where they were trained or private hospitals.

        This study reported strong consistency, up to 97 percents between nurse students’ intention to work in public facilities and actually work there when graduated. Less consistency, 67 percent, was reported between nurse students’ opted for working in private facilities which became their actual work place once graduated.

        The result also showed that all samples agreed with the policy towards increasing financial and non-financial incentives for nurses in rural areas and compulsory rural health services; though there was an equivocal view, when half of samples agreed and the other half did not on the policy towardstwo years compulsory rural health services for all new nurse graduates. Similar study can be extended to “nurse cohort” to monitor work choice among the active nurse workforce in public and private sectors to generate evidence for nurse workforce policy decisions.

Key words: choice of work, new nurse graduates, nursing shortage, community nurses