Career breaks and intentions for retirement by Queensland's nurses--a sign of the times?

OBJECTIVE In order to support policy planning, nurses in Queensland were surveyed three times over a 7-year period. Results from the study offered the opportunity to explore changes in work practices with respect to career breaks and retirement intentions. DESIGN A self-administered postal survey. SETTING Nurse members of the Queensland Nurses Union residing in the State of Queensland. PARTICIPANTS 3000 members of the Queensland Nurses' Union. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES An overview of nurses' work practices in relation to breaks in work and planned retirement. RESULTS Response rates for 2001, 2004 and 2007 were 51%, 44.9% and 39.7%, respectively. Over the 7-year study period the number of nurses taking career breaks declined from 65% in 2001 to 54% in 2007. Of those nurses who reported taking breaks the number of breaks remained constant; however the average length of the breaks declined. Results reflected an ageing workforce. The expected time to remain in nursing increased dramatically for older nurses. Over 60% of 40-60-year-old nurses in 2007 expect to remain in nursing well into their mid-60s compared to 30% in the previous years. CONCLUSIONS The dynamics of the nursing workforce have changed with nurses taking fewer and shorter breaks and expecting to work to a greater age. We speculate that these changes may be influenced by the economic climate.