It is essential for a healthcare institute to maintain skilled, experienced, and engaged nursing staff to deliver effective patient care. However, there is an ongoing problem of nurse turnover. Nursing turnover is a critical issue in many countries. Nurse turnover is costly for the healthcare institutes, and it can disrupt and threaten patient care and outcomes. Many of the researches studies done in the past provide extensive list consists of several determinants associated with nurse turnover such as work distress and environment, lack of leadership support, poor interprofessional working relationships, higher patient acuity, burnout, increased workloads, and insufficient staffing (Duffield et al.2011, Lu et al. 2012, Collini et al. 2015). …show more content…
The most accepted nursing turnover is defined as the process whereby nursing staff leave or transfer within the hospital environment (Jones, 1990; Kovner et al., 2014). There is also lack of reliable definition of nurse turnover rate in the research literature. Nurse turnover rate may give the estimate of every year how many nurses leave the jobs and nursing profession. Some nurses leave their current job or profession voluntarily upon their own reasons such as work dissatisfaction, to find better opportunity, or retiring. While others leave their job or organization involuntarily because of the illness, death, or terminated. This could create inconsistency in measuring actual nurse turnover rate and result in various nurse turnover rate. Due to the lack of consistency in the definition and measurement of turnover that the rate of nurse turnover has been estimated at between 4 and 54% intending to leave internationally (Flinkman, Leino-Pallas, & Salantera, 2010). The RN Work Project is a 10-year longitudinal study of new Registered Nurses (RNs) which, “follow the same nurses over time and obtain data about their job and career decisions” (Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, & Katigback, 2014). Approximately 17.5 % of new nurses leave their first job within 1 year of starting their job (Kovner et al. 2014). Knowing the definition of nurse turnover and its rate is a vital step towards understanding factors that contribute to nurses’ decisions to leave or remain within the institute and profession itself. It is the first step and guide towards in developing effective nursing retention
middle of paper ... ... qualified nurses diminishes. Based on this study, administrators should recruit nurses who understand that health care is at its best when health care professionals work collaboratively as members of a team, committed to providing the best possible patient care. References Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P, Sloane, D.M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J.H. (2000). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction.
The nursing shortage and turnover are an issue that continually, constantly and bedevils the nursing leaders and managers. Without sufficient numbers in nursing, patient care and safety is considerably compromised, with lapses in service delivery, overworked and overwhelmed nurses more prone to making mistakes and across board dissatisfaction. Nursing shortage leads to nurse turnover because of the ones carrying our nursing duties are finding it hard to meet the demand, and they eventually burn out. This paper critically examines the issues of the nursing shortage and turnover and how the nurse leaders and managers can tackle the situation, easing the outcomes (The Truth About Nursing, 2012).
Recent literature reports that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. Data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011) projects that the shortage, would increase to 260,000 by the year 2025. AACN (2011) also reported that 13% of newly registered nurses changed jobs and 37% were ready to change within a year. A study conducted reports that there is a correlation between higher nursing workloads and nurse burnout, retention rates, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey & Aiken, 2004). Among the nurses surveyed in the study, over 40% stated that they were suffering from burnout while 1 in 5 nurses intended
In most aspects of life the saying “less is always more” may ring true; however when it comes to providing quality care to patients, less only creates problems which can lead to a decrease in patient’s quality of life as well as nurse’s satisfaction with their jobs. The massive shortage of nurses throughout the United States has gotten attention from some of the most prestigious schools, news media and political leaders. Nurses are being burnt out from their jobs, they are being overworked and overlooked. New nurses are not being properly trained, and old nurses are on their way to retirement. All the while the rate of patient admissions is on the rise. Nurses are reporting lower satisfaction in their job positions and hospital retention rates are at an all-time low, conversely this is affecting all patients’ quality of care. As stated in the article Addressing The Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care “According to an Institute of Medicine report, Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff”.
However, upon securing a job, they find that things on the ground are not as they had expected them to be and this results in some of them deciding to leave the profession early. Research shows that turnovers within the nursing fraternity target person below the age of 30 (Erickson & Grove, 2011). The high turnover within the nursing fraternity results in a massive nurse shortage. This means that the nurses who decide to stay have to work for many hours resulting in exhaustion. A significant percent of nurses quitting their job sites exhaustion and discouragement as the reason that contributed to their decision. In one of the studies conducted on the issue of nurse turnover, 50% of the nurses leaving the profession argued that they felt saddened and discouraged by what they were unable to do for their patients (Erickson & Grove, 2011). When a nurse witness his/her patients suffering but cannot do anything because of the prevailing conditions he/she feels as if he/she is not realizing the reason that prompted him/her to join the nursing profession. The higher rate of nursing turnover is also affecting the quality of care nurses provide to
Today’s nursing workforce is multigenerational. They differ in behaviors, attitudes and expectations. Generational differences affect nurse-patient ratios and reflect in job satisfaction, retention, and patient outcomes (Wieck, Dols & Northam, 2009). Every nurse wants to work for a company with high job satisfaction and retention numbers. Stress, patient safety, and low performance related to high patient-nurse ratios are the most commonly expressed reasons why nurses may leave their jobs. According to Wieck, et al.(2009), nurses born between 1922 and 1945 are the veterans. They have respect for authority and are reliable employees. They believe that current nursing models encourages a team approach. They believe that nurse-patient ratios are much better than what they are used to be in the past. They are more concerned about age-related issues and recognition for their contributions at work (Wieck, et al.,
The nursing profession is becoming very challenging to nurses nationwide, when the health care system is constantly changing. The nursing staffing issue is becoming an increasing global issue in hospitals and long term care facilities. Patient acuity in the hospital is growing rapidly, the patient acuity determines the level of care a patient needs, the higher the acuity, the more care is needed or required. The higher acuity results in high demand for nursing care which then resulted in increased workload, burnout and job dissatisfaction. There is an alarming concern of nurse shortage and retention in our hospitals nationwide which could seriously affect overall patient outcome.
Recruitment and retention of an adequate amount number of Registered Nurses is a continuous challenge. “To prevent the departure of new graduates RNs from the profession, it is becoming increasingly important for health departments to deal assertively and constructively with training, recruitment, retention and the prevention of disillusionment” (Cleary et al., 2013, p. 2606). To combat this issue, there has been an increase in nurse residencies programs to bridge the gap between classrooms to practice while simultaneously improving retention in the workplace. According to Hudson (2014), turnover rates in facilities that offer programs are often lower than in facilities that do not offer these programs. By not offering these programs results in decreased expenses to recruit and hire. “Stresses associated with the 1st year of employment concerns about patient care, and feeling unsupported in their new roles often lead to high turnover rates in new graduates who are more likely than experienced nurses to resign within their first year of employment” (Hudson, 2014, p. 159). This results in a lost in the investment made in the high cost of onboarding a new graduate by the hospital when premature turnover occurs. According to Hudson (2014), leaving within two years of being hired does not allow an successful return on investment. Another solution to minimize retention of Registered Nurses is to employ more
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
The nursing workforce is particularly challenged when it comes to retaining high quality nurses in the profession. This issue is relevant to new and seasoned nurses alike. There are senior nurses experiencing burnout intending to leave the workforce before retirement age and new nurses leaving the profession prematurely, creating too much nurse turnover. When turnover takes place unexpectedly and prior to retirement, the collective effect is financially and socially detrimental to the nursing profession and healthcare institutions. High nurse turnover can influence a healthcare organization’s ability to provide quality patient care and accomplish the best possible patient outcomes (Hayes et al., 2006). Investigating the sources of high nurse turnover rates and the negative impact on healthcare will bring greater understanding to this nursing workforce issue.
In addition to concerns about the adequacy of the supply of nurses the financial impact of high turnover was startling. According to Jones (2005) Using the updated Nursing Turnover Cost Calculation Methodology, the per RN true cost of nurse turnover is calculated to be 1.2–1.3 times the RN annual salary. That estimate is derived from a retrospective, descriptive study of external RN turnover cost data at an acute care hospital with over 600 beds. The findings indicate that the three highest cost categories were vacancy, orientation and training and newly hired RN productivity. (as cited in Kooker & Kamikawa, C. 2011). For example, At the Queen’s Medical Center, the annual salary of an experienced RN is currently $91,520. Therefore, using the
As the forthcoming nursing shortage threatens the United States, organizations must be knowledgeable in the recruitment and retention of nurses. The challenge facing health care organizations will be to retain sufficient numbers of nurses to provide safe, efficient, quality care to patients. Organizations will look to recruit and attract quality nurses to fill vacancies. As turnover in nursing is a recurring problem, health care organizations will look for strategies to reduce turnover. The rate of turnover for bedside nurses in 2013 ranged from 4.4 to 44.6% (American Nurses Association, 2013). Nurse retention focuses on keeping nurses in the organization and preventing turnover. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the significance of recruitment and retention of nurses, review the literature, and explore how recruitment and retention apply to nursing.
Management spends several hundred dollars for each new nurse that it hire and train. Using Benner’s theory, and investing in nurse retention will decrease costs, as well as having resulted in better patient outcome. A savings of one and one- half to two times of a salary is estimated to have occurred in reducing nursing turnover (Friedman, Delaney, Schmidt, Quinn, & Macyk, 2013). During my first four to five years in my current post,. I noted there to be an increase in novice and advance nurses not staying very long. Upon doing exit interviews it was brought to my attention, that the orientation, he or she received was not enough to make them feel comfortable. The nurses felt that he or she had been rushed through orientation, and did not feel confident in dealing with some
Registered Nurse turnover is a continuous problem in the nursing profession. Turnover in this context is simply defined as “someone leaving a job” (Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, & Jun, 2014). Some aspects of nurse turnover can be viewed as positive, however, most circumstances of turnover are seen negatively and can be referred to as functional versus dysfunctional. The difference between the two is a “functional turnover, a poorly functioning employee leaves, as opposed to a dysfunctional turnover, when well-performing employees leave” (“One in Five nurses leave First job within a year,” 2014). The nursing profession’s recommendation for improvement focuses on dysfunctional turnover of Registered Nurses. Nurses choose to leave their jobs to explore
Singh and Loncar utilized information from two hundred registered nurses who are union members to gain insight upon the changes nursing and hospital management should make to reduce turnover among the nursing staff and gain the maximum benefit from their employee investment. Employees who become disproportionally dissatisfied with their employment fail to strive for the best possible output and instead perform to the bare minimum of standards. This may cause failure to meet service standards, leading to customer dissatisfaction.