Nursing Retention Term Paper

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Motivation as a Factor in Nurse Retention

The decreasing recruitment and retention of nurses throughout the United States and internationally is a growing concern that must be addressed and remedied. As front-line workers, nurses play an integral role in the provision of quality healthcare to those who are most in need - the patients. In order to remedy the problem of increasing numbers of nurses leaving the profession, it is crucial that influential factors be identified. This study will explore the effects that motivation has on the job satisfaction of nurses and on nurse retention. It is hypothesized that nurses who are more motivated in their jobs are more satisfied, and are thus less likely to leave the profession. The findings from this study will provide information as to what changes can be made so that nurses are more motivated in their profession.

Nursing retention is a prominent factor in the current nursing shortage, and it has been found that nurses change jobs and careers because of issues in the workplace, including the culture of the hospital (Donley et al., 2002). Recently, several studies have explored the growing trend of nurses leaving the profession. Why is nurse retention becoming increasingly difficult? Several theories have been posited. Sumner and Townsend-Rocchiccioli (2003) suggested that the cause of nurses' abandonment of the profession might lie more in intrinsic factors rather than overtly expressed reasons. These authors cite various reasons, such as bureaucratic factors, issues related to the medical profession and scientific discourse, and factors within the nursing profession, as contributing to dissatisfaction that causes nurses to leave. Also, nursing is emotionally stressful work, which may add additional stresses to influencing factors. The above authors suggest changes in the work environment to make nurses feel valued for their skills and therefore increase nurse retention.

Problems of retention in the nursing profession have also been linked to low morale (Callaghan, 2003). A study was conducted by Callaghan (2003) to explore nursing morale and its influences in order to identify factors that affect nurse retention. In this study, 58 nurses were interviewed about their morale and their concerns about their nursing career.

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Overall, it was found that morale among the group interviewed was very low. In this group, a large number of nurses were considering leaving the profession, and the majority interviewed said hey would discourage others from pursuing careers in nursing. Several themes became apparent that related to this low morale, which included low pay, lack of support for education, lack of resources, job insecurity, and limited opportunity for promotion. The authors concluded that attention must be focused not only on the salary issues surrounding discontent in the nursing profession and decreases in nurse retention, but also on these other influential factors.

Several factors have been identified that influence nurses' job satisfaction, and furthermore, the likelihood of nurses leaving the nursing profession. Ma et al. (2003) suggest that if administrators identify factors influencing nurses' job satisfaction and implement strategies to address these factors, nurse retention rates will increase. These researchers found statistical differences between job satisfaction and years of service, job position, hospital retirement plan, and geographic area.

Another factor that may affect nurse retention is the level of congruency between a nurse's personal values and those of the employing organization. A lack of congruency leads to decreased job satisfaction and effectiveness and may lead to high turnover (McNeese-Smith & Crook, 2003). Researchers found that nurses who are the most satisfied and productive greatly value their associates, creativity, esthetics and management, while those who are the least satisfied tended to place great value on economic factors related to their profession (McNeese-Smith & Crook, 2003). Therefore, it is important to look beyond salary issues in the effort to increase nurse retention.

McNeese and Crook (2003) found little difference in the values held between older and younger nurse, but younger nurses placed higher values on economic factors relating to the profession and variety. However, it is important that administrators create an environment that will keep older nurses and night-shift workers, who are prone to stress and more likely to leave the profession (Cooper, 2003).

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