Nurse attendee purchasing patterns

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Consumer Behavior

Background:

• Nurse retention is vital due to rising healthcare demands.
• Empowering nurses in decision-making, including purchasing, is a key retention strategy.
• National meetings offer opportunities for professional growth and product evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate nurse purchasing patterns at national meetings.
• To determine how meeting attendance influences post-meeting purchasing decisions.
• To explore differences in purchasing patterns among nurse groups and motivators.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive methodology using participant observation at four national nursing meetings.
• Four-phase mail survey to assess purchasing patterns and influence.
• Analysis of purchasing patterns based on meeting type (specialty vs. generalist) and attendance motivators.

Main Results:

• Identifiable and varying nurse purchasing patterns exist across different nursing groups.
• Specialty nurses were more influential in purchasing decisions than generalist nurses.
• Information from meetings influenced subsequent product selection, utilization, and trial specifications.

Conclusions:

• Nurse purchasing patterns are identifiable and differ based on specialty and meeting type.
• National meetings significantly impact nurses' roles in product specification and purchasing.
• Meeting attendance motivators correlate positively with purchasing involvement, especially for influential nurses.