The career plateau--the differential diagnosis: Part III

This is the last article of a three-part series on the issue of the career plateau. The first article defined the problem of career plateauing and the heightened awareness by hospital and nursing administrators of hospital nurses' career needs. The second article dealt with strategies for change in the hospital organization, the manager, and the employee. This article discusses eight basic career needs of hospital nurses that resulted from a research study the author conducted on the development of an inventory designed to measure the career specialty needs of hospital nurses. The article focuses on the career needs of PACU and surgical nurses compared with three other speciality areas.