The Importance of Staff Retention to Nurses

In 2001, half of the currently employed nurses surveyed were considering leaving the profession for reasons other than retirement, according to the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. Little has changed in the ensuring years. Nurses feel overworked and underpaid and are often pressured to work overtime. They've also reported problems with stress-related illness. Retention is important, especially as the nurse shortage continues to grow.

Quality of Care

• Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses provide the largest portion of healthcare in the U.S. Nurses provide direct patient care, which plays a major role in patient recovery. In nursing homes, nurses supervise nursing home care and also assist patients in bathing, dressing and eating. The Health Care Financing Administration found that staffing shortages in nursing homes can have a direct negative effect on the quality of healthcare patients receive.

Training Required

• Nurses require at least two years of training through an associate's degree program, though many have a four-year baccalaureate. Nurses aides must be certified if they work for a facility that receives Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. The certification occurs through a training program or through a competency evaluation held by the employer. The competency evaluation is a written or oral examination. Given the high level of training required, there are fewer job candidates qualified to work as nurses than there are total job openings.

Aging Population

• The U.S. General Accounting Office says there is a growing shortage of nurses and a growing demand for nurses with skills needed to treat patients with complex healthcare needs. The population is getting older, increasing the number of patients with health problems associated with advanced age, making it even more glaring that a shortage of nurses continues to exist.

Costs

• Nurse turnover costs healthcare facilities money by requiring that they spend more money on recruitment, selection and training. Hospitals also have to spend money on temporary agencies to fill in gaps in the staff, and nursing quality suffers, because there are fewer nurses with experience sufficient enough to provide excellent care. Senior nurses accumulate organizational and procedural knowledge over time. When there are more senior nurses as a result of lower turnover, healthcare facilities will have a greater pool of knowledge and experience from which to draw.

Third-Party Pressures

• Third-party payers are placing increasing emphasis on hospitals and healthcare clinics by reducing the length of patient stays. However, patients are less likely to recover when they don't receive adequate care, which becomes increasingly challenging when there's a poor nurse-to-patient ratio.