title: What do nurses and midwives value about their jobs? Results from a discrete choice experiment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine nurses' and midwives' preferences for the characteristics of their jobs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A discrete choice experiment of 990 nurses and midwives administered as part of a survey of nurses and midwives in Victoria, Australia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Autonomy, working hours, and processes to deal with violence and bullying were valued most highly. Nurses and midwives would be willing to forgo 19% and 16% of their annual income for adequate autonomy and adequate processes to deal with violence and bullying, compared to poor autonomy and poor processes for violence and bullying. They would need to be paid an additional 24% to increase their working hours by 10% ($73 per hour). Job characteristics that were less important were shift work, nurse to patient ratios, and public or private sector work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Policies to improve retention and job satisfaction of nurses and midwives should initially focus on autonomy, processes to deal with violence and bullying, and reasonable working hours. Further research on the cost-effectiveness of these different policies is needed.
authors.affiliation: Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Australia a.scott@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Witt
authors.affiliation: Professor, Centre for Health Services Management, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duffield
authors.affiliation: Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Guyonne
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kalb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D058445:Bullying / Q000517:prevention & control; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010557:Personnel Administration, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D064450:Workplace Violence / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: discrete choice experiments; nurses; workforce