Pre-Employment Testing to Improve Nurse Retention

Nurse retention is an issue healthcare organizations cannot afford to ignore. The nursing shortage continues to impact healthcare in this country which increases the importance and urgency of retaining nurses. Job success, also referred as job satisfaction, is a key indicator of a nurse’s intent to stay. There are pre-employment tests that were designed specifically for healthcare organizations to help them choose applicants that are most likely to be successful resulting in better patient outcomes and improved nurse retention. The purpose of this study was to compare the perceived job satisfaction and intent to stay of nurses that completed pre-employment testing against those that did not complete pre-employment testing. Data was collected from 111 bedside nurses through the use of the Individual Workload Perception Scale – Revised survey tool to determine if there was a difference in job satisfaction and intent to stay between nurses that completed pre-employment testing and those that did not. A comparative analysis was used to examine the differences and their level of significance. The mean scores for two questions were significantly different indicating nurses who had completed pre-employment testing were more satisfied with their jobs and had a stronger intent to stay. Pre-employment testing could improve nurse retention for healthcare organizations by assisting nursing leaders in deciding where the applicant would be most successful