Aging Nurse workforce

A variety of conceptual frameworks were used to research the aging nursing workforce. The theoretical model of Organizational and Personal Factors and Outcomes, developed by Schaefer and Moos (1991), was one context used during this review of literature. This framework suggests that the personal system as well as work stressors affect the association between the organizational system and work morale and performance (Atencio, Cohen, & Gorenberg, 2003). This model suggests that the individual system as well as work stressors influence the relationship involving the organizational scheme and work morale and performance. Occupation stressors combined with organizational and individual system factors induce coping responses and the result of retaining the older nurse (Schaefer & Moos, 1991).

Another theoretical model used was the Conceptual Model of Intent to Stay by Boyle et al. (1999). This model describes four variables that shape a nurse’s plan to stay in employment. These variables consist of leadership characteristics, nurse characteristics, system characteristics, and work characteristics. The primary concentration for this model was to research the influence that leadership uniqueness has on a nurse’s intention to stay employed versus retiring. The outcomes showed that control over nursing practice, situational stress, and the manager characteristics had implicit effects on older nurse intention to remain employed (Cranley & Tourangeau, 2005).

Karasek and Theorell’s Demand-Control Model (1990) was an additional conceptual framework noted in the review of literature on the ageing nursing workforce. This representation implies that intense job strain and decision-making opportunity contributes to work tension and lead...

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...parture from the nursing profession or retirement from the line of work. Several key elements have been established throughout the research that lead to theses nurses feeling the need to retire and include: burnout, physical demands, mental health, linkage to the organization, hours worked, organizational culture, work intensity, and fiscal requirements. Organizations are beginning to establish evidence-based strategies in an effort to retain older registered nurses. Human resources are beginning to formulate policies and procedures to meet the needs of these aging nurses, which focus on their safety, stress levels, preferred work setting, schedule, and job satisfaction. The ability to delay retirement of these nurses or creating career paths that help facilitate a transition to a different work setting could help ease the shortage of nurses in the next decade.