Understanding attrition of early career midwives in Australia

There is a lack of understanding of the experiences of early career midwives which lead to workforce attrition.

In the Australian midwifery setting, workforce attrition in conjunction with the ageing profile of the workforce is of increasing concern. Midwives in the earliest stages of their career are most vulnerable to career attrition, however limited research specifically engages with this cohort.

To understand the professional and social circumstances that led early career midwives to leave clinical practice, how their midwifery background influenced career trajectories, and what would compel them to return to clinical practice.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 early career midwives who had left the profession within 5 years of qualification. Transcripts underwent thematic analysis.

Three themes described early career midwives' experiences: transition to professional practice, an untenable workplace culture, mental health impacts of early clinical midwifery practice. Two further themes emerged about experiences post-midwifery careers: influence of midwifery on subsequent career, and conditions for re-entry.

Challenges with transitioning to professional midwifery practice in conjunction with untenable workplace culture led to such deterioration in wellbeing that remaining within the profession became unfeasible for early career midwives. Desire to remain within health care was apparent, however re-entry to the profession was deemed by most to be out of the question.

Early workforce retention strategies should be the focus of future workforce planning and policy. Larger scale inquiry foregrounding early career midwives is necessary to inform strategies for midwifery workforce retention in Australia.