NURSING RETENTION

Nursing Retention

Nursing Retention

Introduction

At the present time, many member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are facing a severe shortage of nurses. This shortage expected to become more acute in coming years with estimates ranging from 10,000-40,000 nurses by the end of this year (Parry, 2008, 167). Several strategies adopted in an effort to reduce this shortfall. In Australia, many of these efforts have focused on expanding the number of training places available for nurses and reducing the costs of students' education by designating nursing as an area of 'national priority'. Whilst attracting new nursing staff to the profession is one means of addressing the current staff shortages, such an approach provides only a partial solution. Rather, as overseas studies have suggested, health care organizations also need to be more pro-active in improving staff retention. Studies from the USA have suggested that the turnover rate for registered nurses is around 20% per year, although some organizations have reported turnover rates in excess of 36% per year. Turnover rates for registered nurses in the UK are similarly high, with estimates ranging from 11-38% per year (McClure, 2005, 201).

Discussion

Of particular concern is the number of new graduates and younger nurses leaving, or intending to leave, their current place of employment. For instance, in the USA, found that 35% of newly graduated nurses left their place of employment within one year, whilst 57% left within two years. Similarly, Researchers found a much larger proportion of nurses fewer than 30 reported intending to leave their current position within the next year compared to nurses aged over 30. Some of these nurses may be moving to other nursing positions. However, others may be leaving nursing altogether. For example, Researchers reported that 20% of nursing graduates in Australia left the profession within the first year of employment (Lacey, 2007, 205).

Replacing and training new nurses is a costly process. Because of the use of different costing measures (some of which include only the direct costs of replacing staff, whilst others include indirect costs such as orientation and training of new employees) estimates of the precise cost of replacing a staff nurse vary significantly, from US $10,000-US $60,000 per nurse. A more recent study, which adjusts for inflation, estimates turnover costs at US $82,000-US $88,000 per nurse. Less research on turnover costs undertaken in Australia. However, in a recent pilot study of the impact of nurse turnover on patient, nurse and system outcomes, Researcher estimated mean turnover cost for nurses in Australia at US $16,634 per nurse. As well as being economically costly, high rates of nurse turnover are also associated with negative patient outcomes, including decreased continuity of care. Additionally, nurses working in units with high turnover tend to report higher levels of stress as they may be called on to cover vacant shifts and to participate in the frequent training and induction of new staff (Hayes, 2006, 263).

Nursing retention and Leadership

Empirical studies have used the NWI-R, the Practice Environment ...