Career Paths of Nursing Professionals: A Study of Employment Mobility

Ian W. Toal is a registered nurse in Barrie, Ontario.

Based on a research project done out of the University of Waterloo, this
book examines the career paths of 1056 RNs and 633 RPNs in Ontario.
Although the nursing employment climate is significantly different today
than when this work was done (1992–93), the study investigated “many
different forms of external (between-job) and internal (within-job)
employment mobility” and so has a larger application in examining what
motivates nurses to stay at or leave a job.

An important finding was that nurses as a whole were very mobile,
“changing jobs every several years on average.” Personal reasons
were cited most for changing jobs, with relocation (with a spouse or
partner), other opportunities, and pregnancy leading the list. Shift
work was the most common job-related issue causing movement, but it was
a small overall amount. Vertical mobility, career interruptions, and
reasons for leaving the nursing field completely are among the other
aspects of nursing employment examined.

This generally readable but very academic book will be of particular
interest to those who are concerned with employment in general and with
planning for current health-care eventualities in particular.