title: Promotion or marketing of the nursing profession by nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, much effort has been invested all over the world in nurse recruitment and retention. Issues arising in this context are low job satisfaction, the poor public image of nursing and the reluctance of nurses to promote or market their profession.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to examine factors explaining the marketing of the nursing profession by nurses working at a general tertiary medical centre in Israel.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred sixty-nine registered nurses and midwives from five clinical care units completed a structured self-administered questionnaire, measuring (a) professional self-image, (b) job satisfaction, (c) nursing promotional and marketing activity questionnaire, and (d) demographic data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean scores for the promotion of nursing were low. Nurses working in an intensive cardiac care unit demonstrated higher levels of promotional behaviour than nurses from other nursing wards in our study. Nurse managers reported higher levels of nursing promotion activity compared with first-line staff nurses. There was a strong significant correlation between job satisfaction and marketing behaviour. Multiple regression analysis shows that 15% of the variance of promoting the nursing profession was explained by job satisfaction and job position.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses are not inclined to promote or market their profession to the public or to other professions. The policy on the marketing of nursing is inadequate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A three-level (individual, organizational and national) nursing marketing programme is proposed for implementation by nurse leadership and policy makers. Among proposed steps to improve marketing of the nursing profession are promotion of the image of nursing by the individual nurse in the course of her or his daily activities, formulation and implementation of policies and programmes to promote the image of nursing at the organizational level and drawing up of a long-term programme for promoting or marketing the professional status of nursing at the national level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Quality and Patient Safety in Nursing, Clalit Health Services, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kagan
authors.affiliation: Operating Room, Clalit Health Services, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Biran
authors.affiliation: Operating Room, Clalit Health Services, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Telem
authors.affiliation: Operating Room, Clalit Health Services, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Steinovitz
authors.affiliation: Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center, Clalit Health Services, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alboer
authors.affiliation: Delivery Room, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Tzrifin, Israel.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Ovadia
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Melnikov
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D040541:Marketing; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010560:Personnel Selection; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Image of nursing; Job Satisfaction; Marketing of Nursing; Nurse Recruitment; Nurse Retention; Professional Image; Promotion of Nursing