Outcomes of nurse (RN) refresher courses in a midwestern city

Graduates of RN refresher courses offered by three hospitals in a midwestern city from 1981 to 1991 were surveyed (N = 179) to compare the nurses who returned to work (n = 148, 82.7%) with those who did not return to work (n = 26, 14.5%) on demographic and career characteristics, personal responsibilities, and attitudes toward professional nursing (5 nurses [2.8%] did not respond to this item). The non-returning group had fewer mean years of experience prior to leaving nursing, more mean years since last nursing position, and lower mean scores on the Professional Attitude scale used in this study, but the differences were not statistically significant.