Effective strategies for nurse retention in acute hospitals: A mixed method study
Section snippets
Background
There is a preponderance of evidence suggesting that adequate nursing care is an important factor in the delivery of quality inpatient care (Kane et al., 2007, Rafferty et al., 2007, Van den Heede et al., 2009a, Van den Heede et al., 2009b). On the other hand, nurses and general policymakers repeatedly express their concerns about the recurring cycles of shortages of qualified nurses. The European commission, for example, have estimated that there will be a shortage of 590,000 nurses by the
Study design
In the RN4CAST study a cross sectional design was used in 12 European countries (Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). Data were gathered via four data sources (nurse, patient and organizational surveys and via routinely collected hospital discharge data). The design of the RN4CAST-study is described in detail by Sermeus et al. (2011). The study presented here makes use of a sequential mixed method research design (
Descriptive results
Of the 56 hospitals selected for the survey, 52 were non-academic general acute hospitals and 4 were academic hospitals; and 37 were located in Flanders, 4 in the Brussels region and 15 in Wallonia. The median bed size was 446 (IQR = 269). In total, the sample included 3186 nurses. The median age of nurses in the sample was 38 years (IQR = 19) and the median years of experience as a nurse was 15 years (IQR = 19). Most (90%) of nurses surveyed were female.
Table 1 presents summary statistics for the
Discussion
Managing turnover of nurses in hospitals is a critical strategy in conserving scarce human resources in nursing (Stordeur et al., 2006). In this study, which is part of a large European multi-country nursing workforce study, we investigated the relationship between different organizational characteristics and nurses’ reported intention-to-leave the hospital in a sample of Belgian acute hospitals. The results show that nurse staffing and the quality of the nurse practice environment (i.e.
Conclusion
We show that the nursing work environment and patient-to-nurse ratios influence nurses’ intentions to leave their hospital jobs. The themes identified by Belgian CNOs of hospitals with low intention to leave rates mirror organizational features promoted by the Magnet Recognition program. The elements of the Magnet program can therefore be considered as a valuable strategy to improve the working lives of nurses.
Conflict of interest
None.
Funding
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 223468.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committees of all participating hospitals and the central ethical committee of the University Hospitals Leuven (Approval No. ML 5879).
Acknowledgments
We thank the nursing directors, chief nurses, and nurses in the participating hospitals. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 223468. For more information on the RN4CAST project, please visit www.rn4cast.eu.
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