The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have urged student nurses and midwives to fill out their annual internship survey which was launched earlier this month.
In a post on the organisation’s Instagram, student and new graduate officer Roisin O’Connell said that the survey will be used to allow the organisation to better “understand the issues our interns are facing, both in their workplace and in their lives.”
O’Connell added that based on responses to the survey, “we can help people start their careers on the right foot by fighting for improvements in training and their working life, but overall, to make a better health service for both you and your parents in the years to come”.
This survey is aimed towards nursing and midwifery interns, and aims to explore the experiences of these interns in different healthcare settings across Ireland in order to provide better support for issues such as workplace conditions, stress and exhaustion.
The survey is also used as a recruitment tool and retention campaign that highlights the incentives that are required to keep nursing and midwifery interns working within the public system.
It comprises 17 questions, mostly focusing on factors prompting nurses and midwives emigrate upon receiving their qualification, and provides an opportunity for interns to leave comments and to raise questions or concerns.
The survey also focuses on incentives or changes to the system that would prompt interns to remain working within the Irish public healthcare system, and asks what incentives would entice interns to remain in Ireland for at least a year after qualifying.
The survey focuses on employment opportunities for interns upon qualification, asking if they would move to the private sector, or if they have already been approached by overseas nursing services recruitment teams. The survey also focuses on their current workplace environment, and asks about reasons why nurses and midwives would stay close to home upon qualifying.
Finally, the survey asks about government-provided incentives for keeping nurses and midwives within the public system, asking about salary and benefits that come with continuing to work within the public healthcare system.
In 2018, the survey found that 79% of interns indicated that they would be more likely to stay in the Irish public health service if there were improvements in pay, in staffing and in work conditions.
Overall, the internship survey allows the INMO to better understand the general demographics of nursing and midwifery interns, while simultaneously highlighting the incentives that would prompt student nurses and midwives to stay in the Irish public healthcare system upon qualifying.