A profile of non-practising registered nurses who attended a professional re-entry course in Pretoria & Johannesburg in 1992: their expectations and implications for employing bodies.

Twenty non-practising nurses who attended nurse re-entry courses in Pretoria and Johannesburg during 1992, agreed to complete questionnaires which were used to do this survey. Of the respondents 100% were female and 75% were married. The majority of these non-practising nurses had acquired at least six years professional experience before leaving the profession-mostly to be able to fulfil their family obligations. Surprisingly, 100% of the respondents considered re-entering the profession, even those who worked in fields outside nursing. As many as 90% of these non-practising nurses would re-enter the profession if they could find part-time positions enabling them to fulfil their family obligations as well. This implied that the majority would prefer from 08:00 till 13:00 on weekdays, but some would prefer to work night duty, during the afternoons or over weekends when their husbands could take care of their children. Eighteen factors were identified which could influence these non-practising nurses' decisions to re-enter the profession, but 85% indicated that the ability to work in the department of their choice would play a significant role in this regard. Of the respondents 80% regarded the re-entry course which they attended as being a successful update of nursing knowledge and skills. However, future re-entry courses could be more effective if the hospital's professional nurses were more knowledgeable about the educational needs of those candidates assigned to their units.