Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Registered nurse turnover is an important indicator of the nurse job market. Despite its wide use as a measure for health-care system analysis, there is a lack of consistency in the definition of turnover. Some definitions include any nurse leaving an organization; others may include involuntary and voluntary leaving. These inconsistent definitions also result in various turnover rates. The RN Work Project is a 10-year panel study of new nurses. Data were collected from the new nurses, rather than from a specific organization. About 17.5% of new nurses leave their first job within 1 year of starting their jobs. Consistent and accurate measurement of turnover is an important step in addressing organizational work environments and policies about the nursing workforce.

Keywords

turnover RN nurse turnover cost

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander

J. A.

Bloom

J. R.

Nuchols

B. A.

(1994) Nursing turnover and hospital efficiency: An organization-level analysis. Industrial Relations 33(4): 505.

American Health Care Association. (2008). Report of findings 2007 AHCA survey: Nursing staff vacancy and turnover in nursing facilities. Retrieved from http://www.ahcancal.org/research_data/staffing/Documents/Vacancy_Turnover_Survey2007.pdf.

Bae

Mark

Fried

(2010a) Impact of nursing unit turnover on patient outcomes in hospitals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 42(1): 40–49.

Bae

Mark

Fried

(2010b) Use of temporary nurses and nurse and patient safety outcomes in acute care hospital units. Health Care Management Review 35(4): 333–344. doi:10.1097/HMR.0b013e3181dac01c.

Brewer

C. S.

Kovner

C. T.

Greene

Tukov-Shuser

Djukic

(2012) Predictors of actual turnover in a national sample of newly licensed registered nurses employed in hospitals. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(3): 521–538. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05753.x.

Brewer

C. S.

Kovner

C. T.

Yingrengreung

Djukic

(2012) New nurses: Has the recession increased their commitment to their jobs? American Journal of Nursing 112(3): 34–44.

Budden

J. S.

Zhong

E. H.

Moulton

Cimiotti

J. P.

(2013) The 2013 national nursing workforce survey of registered nurses. Journal of Nursing Regulation.S3–S72.

Careerbuilder. (2011). How to cure the retention problems ailing your healthcare organization. Retrieved from http://www.careerbuildercommunications.com/pdf/turnoverrx-whitepaper.pdf.

Castle

N. G.

(2006) Measuring staff turnover in nursing homes. The Gerontologist 46(2): 210–219.

10.

Castle

N. G.

Engberg

(2005) Staff turnover and quality of care in nursing homes. Medical Care 43(6): 616–626.

11.

Castle

N. G.

Engberg

Men

(2007) Nursing home staff turnover: Impact on nursing home compare quality measures. The Gerontologist 47(5): 650–661.

12.

Cho, S., Lee, J. Y., Mark, B. A., & Yun, S. (2012). Turnover of new graduate nurses in their first job using survival analysis. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44(1), 63–70. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2011.01428.x.

13.

Cohen-Mansfield

(1997) Turnover among nursing home staff: A review. Nursing Management 28(5): 59.

14.

Eberly

Holtom

Lee

Mitchell

(2009) Control voluntary turnover by understanding its causes. In: Locke

E. A.

(ed) Handbook of principles of organizational behavior, Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 123–142.

15.

Griffeth, R. W., Hom, P. W., & Gaertner, S. (2000). A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium. Journal of Management, 26(3), 463–488. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-2063(00)00043-X.

16.

Harrington

Swan

J. H.

(2003) Nursing home staffing, turnover, and case mix. Medical Care Research and Review 60(3): 366–392. doi: 10.1177/1077558703254692.

17.

Healthcare Association of New York State. (2013). Workforce strategies guidebook: A compilation of New York hospitals' activities focused on recruitment, retention, staff engagement and culture change. Retrieved from http://www.hanys.org/workforce/survey/reports/2013_nursing_allied_workforce_survey_report.pdf.

18.

Interagency Collaborative on Nursing Statistics. (2005). Nurses, nursing education and nursing workforce definitions. Retrieved from http://www.iconsdata.org/definitions.htm.

19.

Jones

C. B.

(2008) Revisiting nurse turnover costs: Adjusting for inflation. Journal of Nursing Administration 38(1): 11–18.

20.

Jones

C. B.

Gates

(2007) The costs and benefits of nurse turnover: A business case for nurse retention. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 12(3): doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol12No03Man04.

21.

Kovner

C. T.

Brewer

C. S.

Fairchild

Poornima

Kim

Djukic

(2007) Newly licensed RNs’ characteristics, work attitudes, and intentions to work. American Journal of Nursing 107(9): 58–70. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000287512.31006.66.

22.

Kovner

C. T.

Brewer

C. S.

Fatehi

Katigbak

(2014) Original research: Changing trends in newly licensed RNs. American Journal of Nursing 114(2): 26–34. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000443767.20011.7f.

23.

Kovner

C. T.

Djukic

(2009) The nursing career process from application through the first 2 years of employment. Journal of Professional Nursing 25(4): 197–203. doi: 10.1016/j.profnurs.2009.05.002.

24.

Kramer

Halfer

Maguire

Schmalenberg

(2012) Impact of healthy work environments and multistage nurse residency programs on retention of newly licensed RNs. Journal of Nursing Administration 42(3): 148–159. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e31824808e3.

25.

Lake

(1998) Advances in understanding and predicting nurse turnover. Research in the Sociology of Health Care 15: 147–171.

26.

Jones

C. B.

(2013) A literature review of nursing turnover costs. Journal of Nursing Management 21(3): 405–418. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2012.01411.x.

27.

Mark

Salyer

Wan

T. T. H.

(2003) Impact on organizational and patient outcomes: Professional nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Administration 33(4): 224–234.

28.

Martin

Hartman

Whittle

Catlin

(2014) National health spending in 2012: Rate of health spending growth remained low for the fourth consecutive year. Health Affairs 33(1): 67–77. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1254.

29.

McIntosh

Palumbo

M. V.

Rambur

(2006) Does a “shadow workforce” of inactive nurses exist? [Miscellaneous]. Nursing Economics 24(5): 231–237.

30.

Mobley

W. H.

(1982) Employee turnover: Causes, consequences, and control, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

31.

Mohr

D. C.

Young

G. J.

Burgess

(2012) Employee turnover and operational performance: The moderating effect of group-oriented organisational culture. Human Resource Management Journal 22(2): 216–233. doi:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2010.00159.x.

32.

National League for Nursing. (2010). Nursing data review academic year 2007-2008: Baccalaureate, associate degree, and diploma programs. Retrieved from http://www.nln.org/researchgrants/slides/ndr_0708.pdf.

33.

NSI Nursing Solutions Inc. (2013). National health care and RN retention report (pp. 1–11). Retrieved from http://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/Files/assets/library/retention-institute/NationalHealthcareRNRetentionReport2013.pdf.

34.

O’Brien-Pallas

Griffin

Shamian

Buchan

Duffield

Hughes

Stone

P. W.

(2006) The impact of nurse turnover on patient, nurse, and system outcomes: A pilot study and focus for a multicenter international study. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice 7(3): 169–179. doi:10.1177/1527154406291936.

35.

Price

J. L.

(2001) Reflections on the determinants of voluntary turnover. International Journal of Manpower 22(7): 600–624.

36.

Price

J. L.

Mueller

C. W.

(1981) A causal model for turnover for nurses. Academy of Management Journal 24(3): 543–565.

37.

PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2007). What works: Healing the healthcare staffing shortage. Retrieved from http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi?link=reg/pubwhatworks.pdf.

38.

Reinier

Palumbo

M. V.

McIntosh

Rambur

Kolodinsky

Hurowitz

Ashikaga

(2005) Measuring the nursing workforce: Clarifying the definitions. Medical Care Research & Review 62(6): 741–755.

39.

RN Work Project, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.rnworkproject.org/.

40.

Scott

Huntington

Baker

Dickinson

(2011) The graduate nursing workforce: Does an international perspective have relevance for New Zealand? Nursing Praxis in New Zealand 27(3): 4–12.

41.

Skillman

S. M.

Palazzo

Hart

L. G.

Keepnews

(2010) The characteristics of registered nurses whose licenses expire: Why they leave nursing and implications for retention and re-entry. Nursing Economic$ 28(3): 181–189.

42.

Suzuki

Tagaya

Ota

Nagasawa

Matsuura

Sato

(2010) Factors affecting turnover of Japanese novice nurses in university hospitals in early and later periods of employment. Journal of Nursing Management 18(2): 194–204. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01054.x.

43.

Tai

T. W.

Bame

S. I.

Robinson

C. D.

(1998) Review of nursing turnover research, 1977--1996. Social Science & Medicine 47(12): 1905–1924.

44.

Toren

Zelker

Porat

(2012) Preferences of Israeli nursing students in choosing their future workplace. Journal of Nursing Management 20(1): 45–55. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01255.x.

45.

Warshawsky

Rayens

M. K.

Stefaniak

Rahman

(2013) The effect of nurse manager turnover on patient fall and pressure ulcer rates. Journal of Nursing Management 21(5): 725–732. doi:10.1111/jonm.12101.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.27 MB

What Does Nurse Turnover Rate Mean and What Is the Rate?

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material