The relationship between continuing professional education and commitment to nursing
Section snippets
Background
In the United Kingdom (UK) the Agenda for Change reforms have linked nurses’ pay and progression in the National Health Service (NHS) to their ability to demonstrate advancements in competencies and knowledge (Department of Health, 2003). Thus continuing professional development (CPD) has become an explicit part of the nursing role. Much has been written about this important issue from the perspective of managers and nurse educators (Furze and Pearcy, 1999, Lawton and Wimpenny, 2003, Gould et
Literature review
The topic of nursing commitment has global relevance because of the international impact of the current nursing shortage of nurses and the implications that staff turnover has for nursing numbers (Wagner, 2007). Two types of commitment are differentiated in the literature: organisational and professional commitment (Allen and Meyer, 1997).
Organisational commitment has received considerable attention in research studies concerned with a wide variety of occupational groups because it has
Aims
The aims of the study were to:
- 1.
Explore the relationship between CPD undertaken by clinical nurses and their levels of professional and organisational commitment.
- 2.
Explore differences in professional and organisational commitment between nurses in standard and extended roles.
- 3.
Compare CPD undertaken between nurses in standard and extended roles.
Study design
A short survey questionnaire was designed especially for the study (see Appendix 1). Both types of commitment were measured with a validated scale developed
Response rate
Response rate was 64.9% (451 out of 695 questionnaires). All were fully completed. There was no significant difference in response rate between the three trusts (see Table 1).
Characteristics of the Sample
Most of the nurses were women under 40 years of age, with few aged less than 25 years, or more than 50 years. Most were employed full-time. The trusts were diverse and different from each other in terms of: age distribution; ethnic mix; level of education; length of time since qualifying; and band (professional grade) (see
Discussion
Nurses’ scores for organisational and professional commitment were low in this study, possibly reflecting their poor levels of satisfaction with employment in the UK compared to other countries (Camerino et al., 2006). Such findings are disappointing considering the government’s investment in nursing CPD in the UK (Department of Health, 2001, Department of Health, 2003, National Audit Commission, 2001).
There was no evidence of differences between nurses in the different trusts despite
Conclusion
The findings of this study have shown that only a small percentage (7.5%) of nurses had not undertaken CPD of any kind during the last 12 months. Although the nurses were employed in contrasting trusts, all appeared to make very similar provision for CPD. Nurses in senior, specialist roles were not as likely to have undertaken mandatory training to update important key competencies as colleagues in standard roles, and even more worryingly, there was no evidence that they were more likely to have
Acknowledgements
Financial support for this study was provided by the General Nursing Council Trust for England and Wales. We would also like to thank Marina Fontenla for help with data collection.
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