Are Dutch nurses more satisfied with their working conditions than German nurses? Insights from the Ems Dollart Region

Background: Like many hospitals in Europe, hospitals in Germany and the Netherlands are struggling to recruit and retain nurses. In order to avoid negative consequences for patients or hospital staff, hospitals from both countries are therefore looking for innovative strategies to cope with nurse shortages. To guide the development of hospitals’ human resources strategies, a better understanding of nurse retention and, in particular, nurses’ demands and resources at work is needed. In this context, a cross-country comparison can be helpful to analyze similarities and differences in nurse retention between the Netherlands and Germany. However, there are few comparative studies that examine nurse retention between countries and also consider the organizational (here: hospital) context. Aim: This cross-sectional study aims to fill this gap by comparing nurses’ job demands and resources in the Dutch-German Ems Dollart Region by using a multilevel approach. Methods: To explore job demands and resources, N=628 nurses from N=17 German hospitals and N=360 nurses from N=8 Dutch hospitals in the Ems Dollart Region were surveyed online between May and November 2024. The survey was designed based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and by using the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ, Version III). The data will be analyzed descriptively and by multilevel regression analysis. Detailed results will be presented at the congress. Results: Preliminary results showed that most of the nurses in the sample (32.59%) have been working between one and five years in their hospital. However, compared with the German sample, Dutch nurses had worked slightly longer in their hospital on average (DE 11.2 vs. NL 13.9 years on average). German nurses more often considered leaving their current job (25.80%) or their profession (38.38%) compared to Dutch nurses who showed a lower intention to leave their job (9.72%) or profession (15.00%). This may be due to the fact that, on average, German nurses were slightly less satisfied with their working conditions such as their workload or salary than their Dutch counterparts. To better understand which factors contribute to nurse retention, such as why Dutch nurses are more likely to rate their organizational working climate as good compared to German nurses, multilevel analyses will be applied and presented at the congress. Implications: The first analysis showed differences between Dutch and German nurses in the Ems Dollart Region and how they perceive their working conditions. The results of the analysis can be used to develop interventions that aim at enhancing nurse satisfaction and retention and to support hospitals in developing appropriate human resources strategies.