What might make nurses stay? A protocol for discrete choice experiments to understand NHS nurses’ preferences at early- and late-career stages

We will collect job preference data for early- and late-career nurses, respectively using two separate discrete choice experiments (DCEs). Findings from the literature, focus groups, interviews, academic experts and stakeholder discussions will be used to identify and select the DCE attributes (i.e. job features) and levels. We will generate an orthogonal, fractional factorial design using the experimental software Ngene. The DCEs will be administered through online surveys distributed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. A random sample of 5000 registered nurses working in the NHS in England will be drawn for each group. For early-career nurses, eligible participants will be registered nurses who graduated in the preceding five years (i.e. 2018-2023). Eligible participants for the late-career survey will be registered nurses aged 55 years and above. We will use the conditional and mixed logit models to analyse the data. Specifically, Study-1 will estimate the job preferences of early-career NHS nurses and the possible trade-offs. Study-2 will explore the retirement preferences of late-career NHS nurses to delay their retirement decisions and the potential trade-offs.