Strategies to Recruit and Retain Expert Nurses who Provide Abortion Care

Objective: To describe strategies to recruit and retain expert nurses who provide abortion care. Design: Semistructured interviews (25–90 minutes) were conducted and recorded by the lead author between November 2012 and August 2013 and were transcribed and coded using dimensional analysis. Setting: Registered nursed (RNs) from 14 sites in the San Francisco Bay Area were recruited using flyers sent to nurses from their managers and posted in staff‐only areas. Given the sensitive nature of the study, volunteers contacted the study team independent of their employers’ knowledge. Demographic data were collected to describe the sample, but no identifying information was collected except the signature on the consent form. Sample: The purposive sample consisted of 25 nurses who work(ed) in abortion clinics, emergency departments, intensive care units, labor and delivery, operating rooms, and postanesthesia care units. Participants were interviewed between November 2012 and August 2013. A subset of 12 interviews was used for this analysis. Methods: Constructivist grounded theory method was used with interviews examining cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes associated with how nurses make decisions to care for women seeking abortions. Results: Several themes emerged from the data that contribute to successful staff recruitment, retention, and career development for staff nurses and clinicians in abortion care provision: exposure to abortion through, education, as an employee, or through an employer; flexibility, including, advocating for patients, translating one's skill set, believing that nursing is shared work, and juggling multiple roles; “growing our own,” including development of empathy over time; and engagement in activities of legitimacy, namely leadership, development of policies, procedures, or protocols, and professional society membership. Conclusion/Implications for Nursing Practice: Data from this study can inform succession planning for abortion clinics and their affiliated workforce and provide clinicians and administrators with crucial information to determine staffing and workforce profiles for nurses engaged in abortion care provision. The findings from this study can inform the development of job descriptions, interview guides, and training programs for nurses recruited to provide abortion care. Additionally these data provide recommendations for staff retention and career development for nurse experts in abortion care. © 2015 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses