Factors Related to the Career Plateauing of Mid-Career Nurses Working in Acute Care Hospitals and the Relationship Between Career Plateauing and Career Commitment

Abstract

Objective: To clarify the factors associated with the career plateauing of mid-career nurses working in acute care hospitals and the relationship between career plateauing and career commitment.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was distributed to 1,220 mid-career nurses at 14 hospitals located at the Tokyo metropolitan area with more than 400 beds; 429 responses were statistically analyzed.

Results: Multiple regression analysis indicated that the hierarchical plateauing was significantly lower when nurses perceived that their organization had clear promotion criteria and their supervisors interacted well with them. Furthermore, content plateauing was significantly lower when the nurses had certain career goals and opportunities to interact with colleagues and was significantly associated with career commitment.

Conclusion: The results suggest that reducing nurses’ content career plateauing is essential to increase their career commitment. Furthermore, suggestions to reduce the plateauing include increasing the awareness of career plans, clarifying promotion criteria, and strengthening supervisors’ roles in creating a workplace environment where colleagues can motivate each other.