Nurse Turn Over Theory

Introduction

Nursing shortage and nurse turn-over compromise the quality patient care, resulting increased medication errors, patient deaths, staff burnout, and disappointment among workers and their patients. This issue is becoming more critical due to the increase in aging population with chronic diseases (Krans, 2015). Finding and retaining quality nurses is an ongoing challenge to the nurse leaders and mangers. This paper will discuss the effective approaches of nurse leaders and managers to resolve the nursing shortage and nurse turn-over issues, using relevant theories of leadership and management.

Nursing Shortage and Nurse Turn-Over

There are numerous elements that add to the present nursing shortage and poor nursing staff retention

Leaders are visionaries with strategical planning and aspirations to guide their groups and administrations to a future objective (Mahoney, 2001). They uses their referent power to influence the decision making processes in an organization. To address the nursing shortage and nurse turn-over in their facilities, nurse leaders involve in facilitating employee support and employee development programs to reduce job related stress and burnout and to minimize the staff absenteeism. Various leadership models and theories can help nurse leaders to achieve this goal. Leaders adopting a participative leadership model encourage the staff to participate in decision making and retains more staff compared to laissez-faire style negative leadership. Leaders can use a task oriented short term transactional model to intertwine negative feedback and use long term transformational model to establish a lasting staff relationships using positive communications and team building activities. In this model leaders give importance to the welfare of their staff and make a better workplace. Transactional model leaders empower their staff by delegating responsibilities. The “modeling and role-modeling leadership” theory, which uses the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, suggests that once the lower levels needs- the physiological and security needs, are met then the staff can move to seek acceptance, self-esteem, and self-actualization (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2016). Leaders adopting this theory cultivate an ambience for the staff to have a comfortable zone to express their concerns and desires. Leaders appreciate their staff’s positive behaviors and listen to their staff. Leaders also can utilize the Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory, to evaluate if their staff is provided with the factors to make them satisfied like comfortable and safer workplace, healthy