As postgraduate nursing courses are shorter than traditional training routes and can attract candidates with an existing level of education and a breadth of experience, encouraging more people to take up such training is an attractive solution.

Working with Health Education England, we delivered research to understand the key drivers and barriers to taking up postgraduate training in nursing amongst those who meet entry requirements. We spoke to people with a range of backgrounds, from those with experience in health and social care through to those in unrelated fields, as well as current postgraduate nursing students and those recently qualified via this route.

We found that the covid-19 pandemic had caused many to reconsider their career and, for some, sparked interest in healthcare specifically.

Our findings defined the common themes that motivate potential nurses towards the field and provide a base for broad reach marketing. Beyond this, we highlighted the gaps in the decision-making journey that marketing communications can help to bridge, and provided key insights to improve targeting and make marketing for post-graduate study work harder. This included identifying tightly-defined audience sub-groups in which recruitment potential seems stronger, and nuances in motivation between these groups to inform messaging.

See the full report here: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Postgraduate%20Insight%20Research%20Report%20FINAL.pdf