Report on the BACCN 2010 Membership Survey
Background
A membership survey was designed as part of an ongoing strategy to seek members’ views of BACCN. The survey was developed to obtain feedback on the variety of services provided by BACCN and ascertain members’ perceptions of what the association should be striving to deliver in the future.
Methodology
To collect the views of the membership, an online questionnaire was designed and distributed to members via email. The survey was sent directly to all individuals on the membership database with an email address (1913). This was sent twice during 2010 in March and October. The data were analysed and results are presented.
Results
A total of 127 members completed the questionnaires producing a response rate of 7%. Over 70% of the respondents had been members for more than 4 years suggesting a good level of loyalty to the association and the majority of respondents were band 6 and 7 nurses (figure 1).
Main reasons for joining BACCN (ranked in order of priority):
- Maintaining professional development
- ‘Nursing in Critical Care’ Journal
- Useful resources and information available in journal and web site
- Being part of a professional body
- Opportunities to join regional activities
- Reduced conference member rate
- Networking opportunities
- Policy/Lobbying activities
‘Nursing in Critical Care’ Journal
Respondents rated the content of the journal very highly (figure2) and when asked for views on what the journal should include in the future three key themes were identified, these were:
Back to Basics: How to guides, arterial lines, CVCs
Specialist focus: cardiac, burns, HDU care, transfer of the critically ill
Research: UK and quantitative
Other topics: position statements, case studies, letters, useful web sites, up-to-date news
Figure 2
A number of comments on the journal were categorised into positive and negative (figure 3).
Figure 3 Members general Journal comments
Negative |
Positive |
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Use of the BACCN website
46% of respondents indicated they accessed the BACCN website on a weekly or monthly basis. Only 6% didn’t access the website. A high level of satisfaction was reported with the web site accessibility, layout and design, quality of information and relevance.
Respondents identified a need for more news, jobs and forums on the web site in their general comments.
National Conference & Regional Events
A quarter of respondents had attended more than 4 conferences with a high number attending conference at least once (64%). Members considered regional activity to be an important part of the membership with a similar level of members having attended at least one regional event (67%). Respondents were invited to rank, in order of importance, reasons for attending national or regional events, these were:
- Relevance of programme/scientific content
- Convenience date and location
- Overall costs
- Opportunity to Network
- Mix of scientific and social programme
- Having a paper accepted
Respondents identified conference and events as expensive, plus a need for more local events and activities in their general comments.
BACCN initiatives
Almost two thirds of members had a good knowledge of three recent BACCN initiatives; strive for 5, achieving a link member in each ICU and CPD points awarded for events. This highlighted approximately one third of respondents who had not heard of any of the initiatives.
A Richardson
Membership Secretary, Web and Publicity
