Factors contributing to the recruitment of nurses into Los Angeles County Public Health Nursing: An analysis using a public health applicant questionnaire

The current nursing shortage and the impending demand for over 60,000 nurses in California in the next two decades has resulted in many organizations competing for a limited pool of nurses. Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health (DPH) has three nursing classifications that are not exclusively promotional and for which both external and internal candidates are considered. These three classifications are clinic nurse, public health nurse, and nurse manager. We were interested in identifying the factors attracting these nurses to our system.

In 2004, nursing administration developed a questionnaire to capture factors that influence applicants' decisions to apply for a nursing position in public health. Completion of the questionnaire is voluntary and it is provided to all nurses who participate in the required initial civil service interview. The major categories included in the questionnaire are: 1) years of experience as a registered nurse, 2) history of prior LAC nursing employment, 3) position the nurse is applying for, 4) what attracted them to LAC DPH, and 5) source of referral. Some of the categories have multiple factors a nurse can select as his or her response.

From February 2004 to December 2006 the total number of civil service interviews was 383. The breakdown was as follows: 310 public health nurse applicants, 61 clinic nurse applicants, and 22 nurse manager applicants. Out of the 383 applicants 68% or 259 completed the questionnaire. Not all categories were completed by all applicants. Factor #1 captured 190 replies showing that over 52% of applicants have 10 years or less of RN experience. Approximately 40% of applicants indicated having prior LAC nursing employment. The majority of applicants were interested in a position as a PHN (158), followed by CN (22). Applicants were attracted to LAC PHD for its reputation (125) and for quality of patient care (113). The number one source of referral was word-of-mouth (128), followed by job fair/school outreach (56), and LAC DPH website (34).

Nursing administration is in the process of using this data to focus recruitment efforts on areas that appeal to the majority of nurses.