Understanding New Registered Nurses' Intent to Stay at Their Jobs

High nursing turnover is costly for health care organizations. Many newly licensed registered nurses (NLRN) frequently quit their positions within one year of starting work, which is sooner than experienced RNs. In this article, the authors review the literature to better understand the nurses’ intent to stay; there is a strong relationship between intent to stay in a job and turnover. A survey was conducted of NLRNs to see what made a difference in their intent to stay in a job. In total, 1,933 nurses participated in the survey.

Key Findings:

  • Intent to stay at work was related to two main factors: job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
  • Those nurses who worked more mandatory overtime and who had higher patient loads were less satisfied with their jobs.
  • Those who perceived less supervisory support were less likely to stay.
  • Those whose spouse’s income was high were more likely to stay.
  • Higher numbers of local job opportunities negatively affected nurses’ intent to stay.

Findings from this study may help hospitals decrease turnover rates for newly-trained nurses.

The RN Work Project

  1. 1 Newly Licensed RNs' Characteristics, Work Attitudes, and Intentions to Work
  2. 2 Addressing the Complexities of Survey Research
  3. 3 A Comparison of Second-Degree Baccalaureate and Traditional-Baccalaureate New Graduate RNs
  4. 4 Understanding New Registered Nurses' Intent to Stay at Their Jobs
  5. 5 The Nursing Career Process from Application Through the First 2 Years of Employment
  6. 6 What Newly Licensed Registered Nurses Have to Say about Their First Experiences
  7. 7 Moving on, Up, or Out
  8. 8 Generational Differences Among Newly Licensed Registered Nurses
  9. 9 New Nurses¿ Views of Quality Improvement Education
  10. 10 Newly Licensed RNs Describe What They Like Best about Being a Nurse
  11. 11 Early Career RNs' Perceptions of Quality Care in the Hospital Setting
  12. 12 Commuting to Work
  13. 13 State Mandatory Overtime Regulations and Newly Licensed Nurses' Mandatory and Voluntary Overtime and Total Work Hours
  14. 14 Work Environment Factors Other Than Staffing Associated with Nurses' Ratings of Patient Care Quality
  15. 15 The Relative Geographic Immobility of New Registered Nurses Calls for New Strategies to Augment that Workforce
  16. 16 Predictors of Actual Turnover in a National Sample of Newly Licensed Registered Nurses Employed in Hospitals
  17. 17 Charting the Course for Nurses' Achievement of Higher Education Levels

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