Building social connections and creating community ties could help recruit and retain early career nurses to work in rural locations, according to a new research paper.
Led by Elyce Green, from Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health at Charles Sturt University, the study set out to identify the influences and drawbacks for early career nurses in undertaking a rural graduate nursing program.
From the 165 early career nurses who took part in the survey, four key themes emerged as influencing rural early career nurse employment.
- Proximity to social and/or familial ties
- Being attracted to rural clinical practice
- Taking advantage of a job offer in a limited market
- Wanting a rural lifestyle
“I think I will get more exposure to clinical skills and can nourish my nursing knowledge,” one respondent said.
When it came to drawbacks, early career nurses surveyed reported issues like distance to social connections and family, rural lifestyle factors, resource challenges, and a perception of less professional opportunities.
“I don’t have family support to help care for my children. This is by far my biggest stressor in completing this grad start program,” one respondent said.
Amid an international shortage of the rural nursing workforce, authors suggest the findings point to potential opportunities to attract and retain rural nurses through targeted social initiatives and creating community ties, especially among early career nurses who have no close friends or family nearby.
The study, published in the December 2023 – February 2024 edition of the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing (AJAN), calls for further research to explore practical interventions.
“This research has highlighted the need to now understand and trial what strategies can be employed to create and capitalise on social and familial ties to rural locations,” authors state.
“Strategies that take advantage of practical ways to integrate social connection and life course approaches in early career nurse onboarding in rural areas should be explored in future research with a view to creating guidance for rural health organisations and policymakers.”
One Response
I am currently in the seventh month of my graduate position in a remote town in Tasmania. The benefits of my position is that the town itself is my hometown and I have fabulous family support around me. What I have found to be hindering my progression is the lack of support from my actual workplace, with continual short staffing and essentially an agency run facility, the learning opportunities have often bypassed me. I feel that this is partially due to not having a senior nurse in an educator role to take me under their wing and guide my practice. At the end of the day I have considered leaving my hometown and hospital for opportunities where I will be properly supported at the beginning of my career. And this, I feel, is a great shame.