Retaining nurses: the impact of Ontario's "70% full-time commitment".

Area of Science:

• Nursing workforce research
• Healthcare policy analysis
• Employment trends in healthcare

Background:

• Part-time and casual nurses are crucial to Ontario's healthcare system.
• Effective retention strategies are needed to address nursing shortages.
• The
• 70% Full-Time Commitment
• policy was implemented to influence nurse employment status.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of the
• 70% Full-Time Commitment
• policy on retaining part-time and casual nurses in Ontario.
• To analyze employment transition patterns among nurses in Ontario.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a longitudinal dataset from the College of Nurses of Ontario (1993-2006) with over 216,000 nurses.
• Calculated one-year transition probabilities for nurse employment status (full-time, part-time, casual) from 1993-2009.
• Examined trends in nurses' likelihood to remain in, switch, or leave their positions.

Main Results:

• Post-policy implementation (2004-2009), high retention rates were observed for full-time (89.7%), part-time (76.6%), and casual (62.5%) nurses.
• Part-time nurses (13.6%) were slightly more likely to transition to full-time than casual nurses (8.6%).
• Young part-time (24.5%) and casual (24.5%) nurses showed similar rates of switching to full-time positions, with smaller proportions leaving the profession (3.2% part-time, 7.1% casual).

Conclusions:

• Part-time and casual nurses exhibit distinct employment switching behaviors.
• The
• 70% Full-Time Commitment
• policy proved ineffective for retaining part-time and casual nurses.
• The policy may serve as a more effective recruitment tool for younger nurses entering the profession.