Poster can be found in location 55.

Background: Improving the recruitment and retention of healthcare workers in the continuing care sector is critical to ensuring adequate care for older adults, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions prospective registered nurses have about working in the continuing care sector and identify workplace attributes that attract prospective nurses to the sector. Methods: A partially mixed and sequential mixed methods study was conducted with nursing students at Ontario Tech University. Focus groups (n=14) asked students to comment on views about working in the continuing care sector, and job attributes that may attract them to the sector. Focus group data was analysed using thematic analysis. A cross-sectional survey asked students to respond to elicited choice job scenarios that varied job attributes informed by the focus group interviews. The survey data (n=139) was analysed using least absolute deviations estimator. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) values of wages gained or forgone were generated for each job attribute. Results: Focus group interviews suggested fair compensation, optimal client-to-staff ratios, unionized work environments, comprehensive benefits packages, and flexible work arrangements were important job attributes. In survey results, 18.0% expressed interest in working in continuing care sector compared to 75.5% in acute care. Regression analysis suggested that higher amounts of paid vacation (WTP: -5.983; 95% CI: -13.749, -0.037) and higher risk of injury (WTP: 0.684; 95% CI: 0.124, 1.208) were associated with work in the continuing care sector. Impact: Continuing care workplaces can attract nurses by offering flexible options like part-time positions and paid vacation, and by actions that reduce the risk of workplace injury, violence, and abuse. Nursing students should be shown the positive aspects of working with older adults and dispel negative perceptions about the continuing care sector. Further research is needed to understand risk perceptions among nursing staff.