Nurses

To help make it possible for nursing and midwifery students to continue (or begin) their training, CapacityPlus provided 204 financial scholarships to the students most in need. On December 18, 2013, the school hosted a ceremony to award scholarships to recipients—who comprise 37% of the student body—and to receive new equipment and supplies. This seven-minute video was produced by the Office of Radio and Television of Mali (ORTM); English subtitles added by IntraHealth International. To learn more, read the related article.

A discrete choice experiment was conducted to investigate preferences for job characteristics among nursing students and practicing nurses to understand whether differing policies may be appropriate for each group. Data were collected from 256 nursing students and 249 practicing nurses. For both groups, choice of job posting was strongly influenced by salary and direct promotion to permanent staff. As compared to nursing students, practicing nurses had significantly lower preference for housing allowance and housing provision as well as lower preference for provision of transportation for work and personal use. Findings suggest that it may be important to differentiate between recruitment and retention policies when addressing human resources for health challenges in developing countries, such as Lao PDR.

International Nursing Review published a study conducted by the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus. “Strengthening the Uganda nurses’ and midwives’ association for a motivated workforce” presents results from a survey of nurses that was designed to develop policy recommendations for strengthening the association and improving nurse retention. The study concludes that in order to improve motivation and quality of care, investments should be channeled through professional associations that can provide tangible support for nurses such as professional development, mentoring, and networking.