Nurse Turnover

Alongside the shortage of nurses and nurse faculty, the turnover rates for nurses in a health care organization are equally detrimental. According to Morgeson (2015), the replacement cost for a RN can range from $36,500 to $64,000. He continues, “if we conservatively assume that each nurse turnover cost is $30,000 and an organization has 150 nurses and a 25% turnover rate (low, by the way, for continuing care) then the estimated cost of turnover is $1.125 million per year” (Morgeson, 2015, p.40). The process of even hiring a new nurse is costly and the cost of turnover encompasses that. The physical examinations, background checks, pre-employment testing, time spent recruiting and interviewing, and reference checks of newly hired staff are

Research has shown that “patients were less satisfied with nursing care when the nurses on their units felt exhausted and planned to leave” (Park, Boyle, Bergquist-Beringer, Staggs, & Dunton, 2014, p.1208). Park et al. (2014) showed an association between units with high turnover rates and those rates negatively affected the outcome of patient’s with pressure sores. Pressure sores are one of the most costly health care adverse effects, but they can be prevented “by nurses efforts to improve quality of care” (Park, Boyle, Bergquist-Beringer, Staggs, & Dunton, 2014, p. 1221). When a unit has a large amount of nurses who are feeling exhaustive and want to leave, serious patient care issues arise. Park et al (2014) suggested that “nursing administrators can reduce the occurrence of pressure ulcers by using managerial strategies and other interventions to promote a positive work environment to maintain a stable and adequate RN workforce on the units”. This is an extremely important idea to note: job satisfaction can be directly related to the actions of a nurse leader and manager. It is also important to recognize the relationship between high turnover rates and job satisfaction. This paves the way for solutions aimed at increasing job