Retention of Staff Nurses and Nurse Managers in an Acute-Care Hospital: A Qualitative Case Study

Nursing is the largest health care profession in the United States, and health care organizations rely heavily on the services of registered nurses to provide quality care to patients. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage makes it critical for health-care leaders to identify potential issues that may be influencing nurses to leave the nursing profession and to develop solutions for retaining nurses in the nursing profession. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of three groups of RNs in an acute-care hospital setting regarding perceived issues that might influence nurses’ intentions to leave the nursing profession and possible solutions to mitigate these issues. The three groups of nurses were (a) staff nurses with less than 5 years of nursing experience, (b) staff nurses with 5 or more years of nursing experience, and (c) nurse managers in the acute-care hospital setting. Exploring the perceptions of nurses was a practical means of seeking a better understanding of the lived experiences of staff nurses and managers to understand the issue of nurse retention in an acute-care hospital setting. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that included demographic and open-ended, in-depth interview questions. Results indicated the importance of staff nurses and nurse managers’ perceptions of issues influencing nurses to leave or remain in the nursing profession and perceived solutions to the issues and the need for further research to explore how different groups of nurses perceive different issues influencing their intent to leave the nursing profession