| The purpose of this study was to examine how hospital nurse recruiters described the semiotics in nursing recruitment materials that facilitate the recruitment of nurses. This study was an exploratory descriptive study which was done through a content analysis of sources, a survey and a phone interview and subsequent examinations of nurse recruiter descriptions. The conceptual framework for this study was drawn from the work of Barthes (1977) who identifies three kinds of semiotic elements, appropriate for this study which seeks to uncover structures embedded in nursing recruitment materials. These elements include the iconic, indexical and symbolic elements.; This study was done with nurse recruiters from thirty acute care hospitals in the northeast. Findings from the three sources of data are reported for each of the research questions and sub-questions. Three conclusions are derived from the findings which revealed that: the content analysis of the embedded uncoded iconic, coded iconic, and indexical signs revealed images congruent with the recruiters descriptions as to the characteristics that made their recruitment materials attract nurses. The recruiters' descriptions and the embedded uncoded iconic, coded iconic, and indexical signs used to attract nurses reflected the diversity of the nursing profession and the recruiters' descriptions and the embedded uncoded iconic, coded iconic and indexical signs used to attract nurses reflected the technological advancement and professionalization of nursing. Recommendations for practice and future research are presented for each of the conclusions. It is recommended that nurse recruiters incorporate historical images of nurses, along with present male and female nurses to textually reveal nursing as a continuum, thus depicting through images, the changes nursing has undergone and showing the viewer that nursing is no longer a female profession. Further qualitative research could examine the content of nursing materials of post-secondary nursing institutions for evidence of gender bias. |
