Picture of the employment status of nurses in the world: Scoping review on pros and cons

Nurses play a vital role in the delivery, quality improvement of healthcare services, and promoting patient health. Therefore, methods of providing nurses are an important issue. This study was conducted to collect evidence on the methods of providing nurses and their advantages and disadvantages by a scoping review method. The Arksey and O'Malley Framework and PRISMA were used in directing the present scoping review. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were used to conduct the review and report on results. The ISI Web of science, PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest electronic databases were searched for relevant articles published between January 2010 and December 2020 using the keywords and their synonyms. Finally, 19 articles out of 1813 ones to answer the research questions were selected. The results showed that although two general methods are for the employment status of nurses (full-time and part-time nurses), different classification countries are dissimilar from each other. A total of 13 advantages and 20 disadvantages of the part-time pattern and 6 advantages and 4 disadvantages were extracted from the full-time pattern of studies. None of the patterns has precedence over the other. Despite the strengths and weaknesses, each of the full-time or part-time patterns in its position is beneficial. With proper management and planning, it is possible to minimize their weaknesses and benefited from their advantages. Training part-time nurses to maintain and improve their level is a key point in reducing the disadvantages of this pattern.