Student loan in bc

Fewer Graduates Able to Find Full-time Employment

Quality practice environments, employment status and student debt are just some of the factors that new registered nurse graduates consider when looking for their first jobs in British Columbia, according to the findings of RNABC's 2004 New Graduate Registered Nurse Study. The full report is available on the RNABC website at www.rnabc.bc.ca

RNABC's annual survey of new registered nurse graduates has found that the vast majority of survey respondents are satisfied with registered nursing as a career choice and mostly satisfied with their current job. However, while most respondents are working in part-time and casual positions, many say their preference would be to work full-time as a registered nurse.

This is the third consecutive year that RNABC has conducted a survey of registered nurses newly graduated from a B.C. school of nursing (n=634). Two groups of registered nurses who graduated from a B.C. school of nursing and who initially registered with RNABC in 2003 were surveyed in 2004 - those with a B.C. address on the RNABC database (working in B.C.; n=595) and those with an outof-province address on the RNABC database (working in another province or country; n=39). A total of 270 new graduate registered nurses completed and returned the B.C. Nenw Graduate Registered Nurse Questionnaire for a response rate of 46%.

New graduates of B.C. schools of nursing are an important source of registered nurses in B.C., accounting for approximately 50% of new RNABC registrants annually. The main purpose for conducting the RNABC New Graduate Registered Nurse Study - 2004 was to assist with nurse human resource planning in B.C. by obtaining data on the employment patterns and beginning practice of new graduate registered nurses, and identifying the supports needed in beginning their practice and the factors that will retain new graduates in B.C.

Key Findings

Employment

* Ninety-four per cent of the respondents to the B.C. New Graduate Registered Nurse Questionnaire stated they were satisfied with registered nursing as their career choice and 90% were satisfied with their current job.

* Nearly all study respondents (99.6%) sought employment as a registered nurse following graduation in 2003 and 100% of those who sought work were successful in obtaining work. Eighty-one percent found work within u four-week time frame.

* The most common factors identified by respondents for accepting their first employment position were: completion of a student clinical placement on the unit (67%): proximity of the agency to home (57%); timeliness of the job offer/first agency to offer employment (49%); positive reputation of the agency (37%); and previous work on the same unit in another role (30%).

* More than one-third (36%) of respondents had left their first registered nurse position at the time of completing the questionnaire and were working in their second, third or fourth position. Almost half of these new graduates (48%) had also changed their agency of employment. One of the most common reasons cited for leaving positions of first employment was to obtain a different employment status (e.g., full-time employment).

* Regular full-time employment for new graduate respondents continues to decline. Only 43% of this year's respondents said they worked full-time compared to 50% of respondents to last year's survey of 2002 new graduates (see Figure 1).

Practice Environments

New graduates were asked to identify from a list of 17 workplace attributes those they believed to be the most important in supporting new graduates. The workplace attributes receiving the highest ratings were:

* adequate numbers of registered nurses are available to provide care;

* there is knowledgeable, strong nursing leadership for my area/unit;

* nurses are encouraged to ask questions and obtain guidance without fear of being criticized;

* nurses are supported in their professional practice (e.g., ongoing inservices/ continuing education, nursing councils); and

* there are good relationships amongst all members of the multidisciplinary care team.

Accumulated Debt

Eighty per cent of respondents graduated with some amount of debt, ranging from less than $5,000 to more than $50,000. Respondents noted that debt significantly impacted the number of hours they chose to work and their intent to continue to work in B.C.

Staying in British Columbia

Factors identified as "quite important" or "very important" by respondents as influencing their decision to remain in B.C. included:

* quality of the work environment (93%);

* ability to secure a position in their preferred type of setting/area (90%);

* ability to secure a position in their preferred type of agency (83%);

* ability to secure a position with their preferred hours of work per week (81%);

* availability of support for continuing education (79%);

* availability of challenging work assignments/opportunities (72%);

* personal factors unrelated to work (64%);

* availability of positions at higher levels for which they may qualify (59%); and

* availability of financial stipport to repay student debts (51%).

Conclusion

Most of the recommendations in RNABC's New Graduate Registered Nurse Study - 2004 have been made in previous studies. The findings of this year's study continue to support particular recommendations of other years, such as the need for full-time positions, quality practice environments and debt relief for new graduate registered nurses.

Employers have a critical role to play in supporting new graduates in their beginning practice in order to retain an important resource for the future. RNABC has a number of resources that can assist registered nurses and their employers in addressing these issues and in developing quality practice environments. Contact RNABC's Practice Support Service for information (see the back cover of Nursing BC for contact information).

Strategies to support the beginning practice of new graduate registered nurses

1. Target the creation of more full-time positions, specifically for new graduate registered nurses.

2. Create practice environments that support new graduate registered nurses in their beginning practice by utilizing RNABC's Guidelines for a Quality Practice Environment for Registered Nurses in British Columbia and attending to those specific attributes that new graduates identified as important to supporting them.

3. Address issues of student-accumulated debt through loan forgiveness at the national level.

4. Develop and implement a long-term nurse human resource plan that incorporates issues specific to new graduates, including strategies that will retain new graduates in B.C., and takes into account the changing demographics of new graduates and the impact on the future supply of registered nurses.

BY SANDRA REGAN, RN, RNABC NURSING POLICY CONSULTANT