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Baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses in nursing homes: Experiences and opinions of administrators and nursing staff
Author(s) -
Backhaus Ramona,
Verbeek Hilde,
Rossum Erik,
Capezuti Elizabeth,
Hamers Jan P.H.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/jan.13391
Subject(s) - nursing , medicine , nurse education , nursing staff , medline , psychology , political science , law
Aims To understand how nursing homes employ baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses ( BRN s) and how they view the unique contributions of baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses to staff and residents in their organizations. Background Although providing care for nursing home residents is complex and thus requires a high level of skills, organizations often struggle to recruit and retain BRN s. Some nursing home organizations do not employ baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses at all. Among those that do, it is unknown how well these organizations make use of baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses' expertise or if their roles are different from those of other staff. Design A qualitative study, consisting of 26 individual and three group interviews was conducted in the Netherlands. Methods Interviews were conducted at the board‐, management‐ and staff‐level in six nursing home organizations. Data were collected between January 2016–May 2016. Results Organizations employed baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses to fulfil an informal leadership role for direct care teams. Organizations that do not employ baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses were unable to articulate their role in the nursing home setting. Difficulties baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses experienced during role implementation depended on role clarity, the term used to refer to the baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurse, the extent to which nurses received support, openness from direct care teams and baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses’ own behaviour. The unique contribution of baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses perceived by respondents differed between and in organizations. Conclusion Our findings suggest that there is no “one size fits all” approach to employing baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses in nursing homes. To ensure the satisfaction of both baccalaureate‐educated Registered Nurses and the organizations that employ them, careful implementation and evaluation of their role is crucial.