We’ve asked about rostering practices at each DHB

For the nationwide survey of nurses on work patterns and fatigue, it's important that we can check whether the nurses who complete the survey are representative of all Registered and Enrolled Nurses working in our 6 practice areas of interest. 

We will compare the characteristics of nurses who have completed the survey (age, gender, practice area, ethnicity) with current workforce statistics published by the Nursing Council of New Zealand, to see if there is any bias in our sample.

We also need to check whether the responses in the survey are representative of the work patterns of nurses working in DHBs nationwide.  There is very little data about work patterns of New Zealand nurses, which is why we are doing the survey.  We have also asked the Directors of Nursing at each DHB help us out by providing information on the number of nurses working shifts of particular lengths, the percentage of nurses working rotating versus permanent shifts, the number of full time versus part-time nurses, and the current total number of nurses in each practice area.