Analysis of the retention and affiliation factors affecting the active and reserve Naval Nurse Corps

Abstract

This thesis assesses the factors affecting retention rates in the active Naval Nurse Corps and afilliation rates with the reserves among those who left active duty services. The thesis is composed of two parts: (1) an organizational analysis of the Navy Nurse Corps utilizing the Organizational System Framework and the Organizational Configurations model; (2) an empirical analysis to analyze charactreristics of those who are retained in the active Naval Nurse Corps and those who affiliate with the reserve Naval Nurse Corps using multivariate logit regressions. Cohort data files were compiled from the Defense Manpower Data Center and the Bureau of Medical Information Systems. We analyzed three groups of factors: demographics, professional characteristics, and military experience. Factors associated with positive retention rates include being a male, a minority, having dependents, being prior enlisted, having a subspecialty beyond general nursing, and having a postgraduate degree. The best accession sources were the Medical Enlisted Commissioning Program and Direct accession. Factors associated with positive reserve affiliation rates include being prior enlisted and having a subspecialty beyond general nursing. Our major recommendations for the Navy include shifting focus from accession bonuses to retention bonuses and increasing the Medical Enlisted Commissiong Program accessions.