Understanding the competency needs of nurses to retain talent

First-line nurses are known for their heavy workloads and a lack of adequate manpower in Hong Kong. High turnover rate of nurses has created a vicious cycle in the health care system and is unfavorable to public interest.

To respond to this challenge, Dr Sandy Choi, Associate Dean (Global Partnership and Community Engagement) and Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies at Hong Kong Metropolitan University, conducted a research project aiming at identifying the competencies needed for current and future local nurse leaders. The project is supported by a research donation and funding from the Government's Research Matching Grant Scheme.

The research team interviewed around 50 nurses of various generations to understand how they perceive the role of nurse managers. While the older generations have a clear career aspiration for managerial positions and regard it as a staff benefit, the younger generations tend to value a balance between work and family life, and are less willing to be promoted to managerial positions. The findings reveal one of the possible factors for manpower shortage in the nursing sector.

Healthcare workers are invaluable assets of Hong Kong, especially under global pandemic like Covid-19. The findings of this project contribute to facilitating hospital administrators to understand the perspectives of different generations of nurses, as well as to create a supportive working environment for retaining nurse leaders and attracting new generations to join the nursing workforce that will eventually benefit local citizens.

The results of this research project have been reported in the article 'Multi-generational perspectives on the competencies required of first-line nurse managers: A phenomenological study', published on International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This publication was awarded the Grand Prize of the Outstanding Research Publication Award 2022 by Hong Kong Metropolitan University, demonstrating the University's recognition of Dr Choi's research achievements.