Needs, Factors, and Guidelines for the Preparation of the Job Transition from the Departments of Nursing Service to the Departments of Primary Care Service of Professional Nurses, Phrapokklao Hospital, Chanthaburi Province

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The nurses’ job transition from a hospital to community tasks is necessary for national strategic changes for human resources to be allocated in a timely and effective manner according to the Ministry of Public Health’s policies.

OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to examine the need for the job transition among professional nurses from the Departments of Nursing Service to the Departments of Primary Care Service, Phrapokklao Hospital Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, and to study the factors related to the job transition and guidelines for preparing to change their job.

METHODS: The population of this descriptive study was 790 professional nurses working in the aforementioned hospital. The sample comprised 259 nurses working in the Departments of Nursing Service, and systematic sampling was utilized. The research instrument consisted of three parts as follows: 1) personal data, 2) a job transition questionnaire, and 3) guidelines for the preparation of the job transition. The content validity, which was between 0.6-1.0, was found to be significant. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: The results showed the following: 1) Eighteen percent of professional nurses wished to change their jobs. Most, who were aged between 25 and 34 years (41.7%), wanted to change the jobs after 5-10 working years of service (35.4%). 2) The factors of the job transition comprised three parts: family necessity as the personal factor (68.8%), the nature of the nursing jobs as the internal organizational factor (79.2%), and changing to new workplaces as the external organizational factor (85.4%). The need for changing the position from the Departments of Nursing Service to the Departments of Primary Care Service was a community nursing task (60.4%). 3) The preparation guideline for job transition consisted of two levels: (1) At the Organization level, to define the position framework for the timely support of the job transition (75.0%), and to support the community management methods (77.1%), and (2) at the personal level include capacity building of the knowledge and skill (77.1%,75.0%) and to gain the benefit from a good quality of work life (85.4%).

CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that one in five professional nurses had a desire to change their jobs to the Departments of Primary Care Service. The personal, internal and external organizational factors were the relevant factors. Furthermore, the preparation for changing jobs involved both the organization and individual levels.