This groundbreaking volume investigates why practising nurses decide to remain in the profession. Combining insights from phenomenology and philosophical anthropology with empirical findings from over a decade of research, it sheds light on a vital topic for healthcare services and nurses globally. Skilled nurses play a critical role in providing quality care, however, countries worldwide face difficulties in the education, recruitment, and retention of nurses, leading to heavy workloads for those who remain, difficult starts for new graduates, and negative impacts on patient care and, in turn, public health.

Focusing on the reasons why nurses stay in the profession – and including the voices of nurses illustrating this throughout – this book also reveals why nurses leave and how recruitment and retention of nursing staff can be improved. Kristoffersen argues that the decision to remain a nurse is linked to an individual’s self-understanding and identity and describes a process by which nurses perpetually deepen and widen their horizons of identity while, at the same time, having to balance what they strive to achieve and the challenges they have to face in everyday nursing care. It includes case studies looking at newly graduated nurses, home healthcare, mental health, nursing home and school nurses.

This is an important contribution for researchers and advanced students interested in nursing management, professional issues in nursing, nursing leadership, and the organisation of health services.