Differences in health, productivity and quality of care in younger and older nurses

Abstract

Nurse managers must determine if their older nurses are being given more difficult, complex patients because of their experience. Perhaps older nurses, especially those with health problems, need assignments that require their assessment and critical thinking skills rather than their strength and physical abilities.

Associations between Age, Years in Post, Years in the Profession and Personal Experience of Mental Health Problems in UK Mental Health Nurses

“…Difference in age was not significantly associated with personal experience of mental health problems, in either of the four groups. This contrasts with previous studies in which age differences in prevalence of mental health problems have been found, specifically higher prevalence of mental illness in younger nurses (Morrissy et al, 2013;Arafa et al, 2003;Christensson et al, 2011;Lavoie-Tremblay et al, 2008;Ryan and Quayle, 1999;Letvak et al, 2013).…”

“…Nurse training and certainly entry into the profession in the UK has changed over recent years (Royal College of Nursing, 2014), meaning that the characteristics and social circumstances of UK MHNs in different age brackets may be relevant here, particularly with a significant proportion (32.3%) of UK MHNs being over 50 (Royal College of Nursing, 2014). The findings of this survey call for further work, mirroring the studies on generations in nursing that have been conducted in Australia and the US (Humble and Cross, 2010;Brunetto et al, 2012;Letvak et al, 2013). Cohort research on MHNs in the UK has focused on student nurses or those newly qualified (Kipping, 2000;Pryjmachuk and Richards, 2007;Rungapadiachy et al, 2006;McCrae et al, 2014).…”

“…Older nurses (over 60) have been found to have better mental health but higher prevalence of health problems per se than younger nurses (Letvak, Ruhm and Gupta, 2013). Conversely, Musshauser et al (2006) found age to influence physical but not mental health scores in a survey of female hospital workers.…”

“…The broader content for this study is a profession at crisis point, with both age and experience as relevant factors. Longitudinal and cohort studies are needed in order to determine the relationship between years in profession, post, age and mental health problems in the UK, in a similar way as they have been done in Australia and the US (Letvak et al, 2013;Brunetto et al, 2012).…”

Scholarship in nursing: Degree-prepared nurses versus diploma-prepared nurses

“…This is more or less on par with the average age of a registered nurse as it is 45 years in Canada and 41e45 years in Denmark, France, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (Letvak, Ruhm, & Gupta, 2013). Because the age distribution of both groups is similar, the thread to the internal validity by the generation effect is diminished (Bordens & Abbott, 2008).…”