Nursing Staff Turnover

Nurses General Nursing

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Our class guest speaker today was the VP over Human Resources of a large health system. He told us that according to research the 4 factors which contribute to the turnover of nursing staff in hospitals are:

1. Interpersonal relationship problems (usually involves poor manager-staff relationship)

2. Work environment, including staffing ratio

3. Work processes - lack of adequate support staff, too many hassles involves in getting the work done

4. Compensation

He also said that "nurses don't leave hospitals, nurses leave mangers".

I though these observations are right on with what is happening in nursing today--what do you guys think?

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

I have seen 2 turnovers due to who the nurse manager was and I foresee it happening in our unit again soon. Sure a lot of it comes from upper and they are just the puppet, but the NM needs to be at least courteous to her staff and tell them what is going on and why, not just doing it and saying live with it. Also, always harping on the staff, never saying when they do a good job is really irritating too. And a holier-than-thou attitude is really really irrititating!

i have worked on the same unit for 12+ years. i never before had a manager that treats the staff poorly until recently(and this is number six) . the new manager(who actually is not new at all to the hospital but only to our unit) totally sux. i won't elaborate but trust me, i know. several people retired early and several quit or transferred. a manager CAN make all the difference. prior to this manager our staffing was cut but we didn't feel screwed by the manager. now we do. edited to say--the manager can make a big difference--not all the difference-- just in the way he/she interacts with his/her staff.:)

Just a quick question--was his purpose to purely point out the causes or did he offer what could be solutions?? :confused:

sorry to have repeated a question that was already asked in a previous post:eek: It's late. ---BTW I tried to delete the post when I realized the question had already been asked and it wouldn't go away-----any idea how come, anyone???:idea:

You can't delete a post, only the entire thread IF you were the one who started the thread. However, you can edit or erase your post by using the "edit" button under your post. It's all in the FAQ.

I wholeheartedly agree with number 3. Example on night shift:

I go into a patient's room. She asks me for her regular meds and a pain pill. I leave the room to get it. Phone is ringing at the nurse's station so I answer it because no one else is there. I spend a few minutes taking care of the phone call. I finish with the phone call and the call light is ringing. I answer the light because no one else is there. Spend many minutes trying to take care of the light and get someone to the room. I go to the "Suremed" (it's like a Pyxis) to get the pain pill and it's in the drawer with 10 other narcotics, so I have to stand there and count EVERY one of them. I finally have the pain pill in hand. I go to the patient's personal med drawer to get her other meds and notice that there are several that pharmacy didn't stock. Pharmacy is gone for the night! So I get on the phone with the house supervisor so she/he can go unlock the pharmacy and get the pills I need. I take two steps toward my patient's room with only the pain pill in my hand and the phone at the station starts to ring........:roll Gawd, I can't go on. I'm making myself tired just thinking about it. :chuckle

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