Abstract

The topic of retention in nursing is never far from any healthcare professional forum of discussion. Factors which promote or inhibit a positive practice environment together with issues of self-awareness and professional resilience are of profound interest to all of us broadly associated with nursing and its future. So it is refreshing to read a paper that considers not just one but all of these influential areas.
The findings are interesting and informative. However, it is important to remember that they arise from a cross-sectional study in which four separate groups of nurses responded within the same time frame. This is not a longitudinal study in which the same cohort have been revisited at different points across a 5-year period. Instead, the strength of this study is the innovative combination of survey tools, each measuring an issue pertaining to retention together with the correlation between the findings among respondents at each post-graduate point.