Nurse Retention Strategies Paper

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2009). New Study Identifies Strategies to Retain Experienced Nurses As Nursing Shortage Looms and Nation's Health Care Needs Grow. In Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2009/07/new-study-identifies-strategies-to-retain-experienced-nurses-as-.html

There are many challenges facing today’s nursing leaders and managers. From staffing and scheduling, to budget cuts and reduced reimbursements, today’s nursing leaders must evolve to meet the ever changing health care environment. Constance Schmidt, Chief Nursing Officer at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC), identified retaining experienced registered nurses (RN) as one of the biggest problems she faces as a nursing leader. She went on to state “Nationally, most hospitals have more than 60% of their nurses with at least 5 years of experience. At CRMC, it’s the reverse. We have more than 60% of our nurses with less than 5 years of experience” (personal communication, March 28, 2014). The two largest factors affecting those numbers are the nursing shortage and nursing retention. The first, the nursing shortage, was identified years ago and has been researched countless times. Some projections indicate the number representing the gap between available registered nurses, and the positions needing to be filled, could be over a million before the end of the current decade. The latter, retention of nurses, is a problem in every health care facility in the nation. Nursing turnover results in both a significant financial cost to hospitals, and a significant impact on the community through its effects on patient outcome.

The healthcare industry has long emphasized that staffing issues are a constant concern. It is a worry that influences the safety of both the patient and the nurse. A study reveals that over seventeen percent of new graduate nurses leave their first nursing job within a year, and over thirty-three percent leave within two years (Christine T. Kovner, 2014). Nursing turnover in combination with other important factors will be discussed in greater detail in the following paragraphs.

As a recruitment and retention committee, our goal is to attract responsible and respectful nurses, along with retaining the nurses who were already hired. Strategies will be used to entice future employees, as well as the current staff, with incentives. Such incentives may include: benefits, workplace conveniences, flexibility, gaining personal growth, and becoming recognized and appreciated for all of the hard work that is being done. In order to do this, the committee that was created will have to plan meetings to discuss a more enhanced and detailed plan.

Hi Lilia, thanks for the post. I agree that the article you found is a secondary source because it has the words literature review in the title. I was unable to read the article because I could not find it in Kaplan’s online library. I was able to read the abstract through a website. I agree that nursing turnover is prevalent in all facets of health care. It impacts not only to patient care and safety, but also to staff safety. Browsing through the different article titles in Kaplan’s online library, I have noticed that articles were done exploring staff or nurses attitudes and determinants why they leave their jobs. I am wondering whether there has been research done on facilities or organization that adopted or have implemented strategies

An identified area in which healthcare managers are failing consistent effectiveness is in the retention of their nursing staff. With the need of nurses shaping the way many healthcare managers look at their staff, often it is the veteran nurse persuaded in staying. While in some settings this is truly beneficial, in others the cliché of nurses eating their young instills fear into new graduates; this fear and the lack of support ultimately leads to their exit (Rush, Adamack, Gordon, & Janke, 2014). With the associated costs of nursing attrition meeting rates of nearly $186,000 per registered nurse, it is imperative we institute nursing residency programs immediately and continually retaining staff and protecting healthcare institutions’ sustainability (Cubit, K.A. & Ryan, B., 2011; Lee, Tzeng, Lin, & Yeh, 2009).

America is one of the most affluent countries in the world, but is also a nation that has a healthcare industry that is in much turmoil. One of the more pivotal influences of this turmoil is nurse turnover rate. Nurse turnover does not have a universal meaning, consequently making it difficult to associate turnover rates in healthcare facilities and geographical areas. In all actuality, “"Nurse turnover" is an undesirable trend for healthcare employers. It 's expensive, it 's disruptive, and it threatens the quality of care and patient safety” (Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi, and Jun (2014). All throughout America healthcare organizations demand a steady, extremely trained and completely engaged nursing staff to provide efficient levels of patient care. However, a budding shortage of experienced nurses has led the United States healthcare industry to a continual increase in the turnover rate among registered nurses. As a matter of fact, “Hospitals are experiencing an estimated 16.5% turnover rate of registered nurses (RNs), increased from 14.7% in 2012” (Yarbrough, Martin, and Alfred, 2014). Turnover costs of these leaving nurses are as much as a universal problem throughout the healthcare industry, occurring at staggering prices. According to Yarbrough, Martin, and Alfred (2014) “Estimates of RN turnover costs range from US$44,380 to US$63,400 per nurse—an estimated US$4.21 to US$6.02 million financial loss per year for hospitals.” This ascending trend in turnover rates is a clear

The nursing shortage in healthcare has been a highlighted issue for many years. With the ever-growing health care system, hospitals and healthcare facilities often find themselves searching for ways to acquire new nurses and retain their very own. Throughout the years, the number one solution to this problem remains the same: decreasing nurse turnover, and increasing nurse retention. This paper discusses the causes of high nurse turnover rate, the negative effects on health care, and ways to improve the turnover rate.

I agree that an organization’s structure plays an influential role in a nurse’s overall satisfaction. In fact, Buffington, Zwink, and Fink (2012) concur stating, “Creating an organizational culture committed to registered nurse (RN) retention is a strategy to reduce nurse turnover” (p. 273). Research reveals numerous hospitals today are restructuring their organizations to try and increase overall nurse satisfaction and retention. This “new recipe for healthcare leadership and organization is needed,” according to Miners, Hundert, and Lash (2015), not only to improve nurse satisfaction, but ultimately to improve quality of care and increase patient outcomes (p. 114).

Retention in the nursing profession is a concern that needs to be understood and corrected. Multiple areas of the healthcare system are affected by nursing retention, and these areas need to be considered when addressing the concern. Cost of nursing retention is high for organizations because of resources used to maintain and hire for the open positions. Quality patient care should always be at the forefront of reasons that nursing retention needs attention and improvement. Not all cost of retention are associated with monetary value, patient outcomes need the utmost consideration in dealing with nursing retention. There is a lot more than just one contributing factor in retention, it might be impossible

Retaining a stable and sufficient supply of nurses is an important hospital and nationwide concern. Numerous factors affecting retention of registered nurses comprises of practice autonomy, managerial respect, workload, and inclusion in decision making, flexible schedules, education, and pay (“Recruitment”, 2013). Hospitals not capable of retaining qualified registered nurses may result in the loss of experienced and knowledgeable staff. Additionally this will lower hospital productivity during this transition. High turnover rates for registered nursing staff may also impact job fulfillment and nursing moral altogether. Retaining qualified registered nurses will enhance patient care quality and satisfaction.

Turnover of Long Term Care Nurses During my experience as a Registered Nurse working in the long-term care setting, I have come to see a problem with staffing. The nursing home is constantly working short staffed due to management’s inability to retain nursing employees. Management must learn new ways in retain nursing staff by evidence based practice. Based on the literature, management needs to identify the problem and it’s significant.

With the ongoing changes in the healthcare field, nursing workforce retention presents itself as one of the greatest challenges facing healthcare systems today. According to the American Nursing Association, nursing turnover is a multi-faceted issue which impacts the financial stability of the facility, the quality of patient care and has a direct affect on the other members of the nursing staff (ANA, 2014). The cost to replace a nurse in a healthcare facility ranges between $62,100 to $67,100 (ANA, 2014). The rising problem with nursing retention will intensify the nursing shortage, which has been projected to affect the entire nation, not just isolated areas of the country, gradually increasing in its scope from 2009 to 2030 (Rosseter,

The nursing shortage is no longer a projected problem in the healthcare industry in the United States, this problem is present and is not phasing out anytime soon. Addressing this challenge would improve job satisfaction, reduce burnout in the profession and ultimately improve retention.

Nurse turnover is defined as “the number of nurses changing jobs within an organization or leaving an organization within a given year” (Baumann 2010). Retaining nurses is one of the most important issues in health care as its effects range from challenges in human resource planning, to high costs in financial and organizational productivity (Beecroft et al, 2008), to workgroup processes and morale, to patient safety and quality of care (i.e. patient satisfaction, length of patient stay, patient falls, and medication errors) (Bae et al, 2010). Nursing Solutions Inc (NSI) reported the national average turnover rate for hospitals increased from 13.5% in 2012 to 14.7% last year. Nurses working in Med/Surg had more turnover