Nurse Turnover Research

Due to the absence of a standard definition for nurse turnover within most studies, the descriptions for nursing turnover vary. According to O’Brien-Pallas et al. (2006), “the most frequently used definition of turnover in a literature review was the process whereby nursing staff leave or transfer within the hospital environment” (page number goes here for direct quote). However, there are several types of nurse turnover found in the literature Professional turnover is not the same as organizational turnover. Professional turnover is when nurses do not renew licenses, do not work, or find another job outside of the medical field (One in five, 2014). Sometimes an employee will simply stay at the same hospital but will transfer to a different

Recent studies of the costs of nurse turnover have reported results ranging from about $22,000 to over $64,000 (U.S.) per nurse turnover (Jones, 2005). On average, it takes around 2 months to recruit a medsurg nurse and around 3 months for ER nurse. (NHRRR, 2015) Nurse turnover can even affect patient safety. RN turnover rates are inversely related to quality (e.g., physical restraints, contractures, pressure ulcers) in nursing homes (Castle & Engberg, 2005) and positively related to unit-based high levels of patient falls (Bae, Mark, &Fried, 2010), and turnover of nurse managers is positively related to pressure ulcers (Warshawsky et

It is important to point out that not all turnovers are a negative occurrence. When a nurse gets promoted she may leave and work in another area of the hospital In this situation, the employee and hospital both benefit from the turnover that occurs within the facility. “Mobley (1982) identifies four main classes of determinants of turnover: (a) the state of the economy (e.g., the availability of alternative jobs), (b) organizational variables (such as leadership, reward systems, and job design that create the work environment), (c) individual variables (non-work-related and work-related), and (d) integrative variables (e.g., satisfaction, intent).” Relationships, staffing, and personal reasons fall within the above categories. If the economy is hurting then it may be hard to get a high paying job, therefore an employee may tend to always be looking for a better paying opportunity. Leadership is crucial, if a person has good leadership then they are more likely to look up to the supervisor and strive to do the best they can; however if there is poor leadership then that will trickle down onto all the employees and cause poor performance, more stress, and staff members to look for another place to work. Staffing always causes tension if there are not enough employees to fill the work schedule out evenly. Sometimes, one particular nurse may end up taking care of critical patients every time they are on the