What would help you love your job?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Why do most nurses leave their job?

    • 30
      A promotion/better job
    • 1
      Changing careers
    • 70
      Difficulties with management
    • 129
      Over worked
    • 15
      Personal reasons (family, move, etc.)

245 members have participated

This is a question for all nurses - both new and old: What would motivate you to keep working for the same healthcare organization?

I am an analyst for a multi-hospital system and my job is to help reduce employee turnover.

Nearly 1 in 5 nurses leave their job in the first year. Because hiring a new employee can cost almost an entire year's salary (and training takes a significant amount of time), it is in the best interest of hospitals, communities, and patients to have nurses stay around longer.

Of course, many people leave their job within a year because of a lack of connection with the company culture, a dislike for their boss, or another life change. Some of this will never change. However, I believe that many things can change - and I would like to figure out what exactly it is that should be changed.

What are things that you wish your organization, managers, and peers did to help you enjoy your workplace? What makes your job challenging, and what would make it more enjoyable for you?

If you have left a job (particularly after less than 2 years), what was your reason for leaving? Is there anything that could have been done differently that would have motivated you to stay?

Again, thank you for your time and responses! Maybe together we can make the workplace more enjoyable for nurses. ;)

Specializes in ER.

I would like to see better working conditions that actually support a culture of safety, instead of only giving lip-service to it. That, specifically, means fewer patients per nurse and more CNAs to support nursing staff. This also includes insuring that all staff receive all government mandated breaks.

Specializes in Anesthesia, ICU, PCU.

You mentioned (less than 100 words into your post) the exact reason why I want to get out of not only nursing, but healthcare in general:

"Because hiring a new employee can cost almost an entire year's salary (and training takes a significant amount of time), it is in the best interest of hospitals..."

It seems like every change I've encountered on my unit, in the year that I've been a nurse, has been motivated by some financial incentive. New bathing products that save money, the removal of hazardous waste bins in each patient room that will save money, different staffing patterns that will save money, intentional understaffing/failure to replace resigned nurses in a timely fashion to strategically pad the unit's budget, new approaches to "customer interactions" that will increase patient satisfaction and... improve reimbursement. Yet at the base of all of these business decisions is nursing -- forced to sacrifice personal and patient safety to accommodate their hospital organization's profitability.

Then, to continue the quote I took earlier, you hit us with the same horse manure propaganda stanza our managers would supply us with:

"...it is in the best interest of ... communities, and patients to have nurses stay around longer."

Appealing to the presumed sensitive, caring, martyr-esque nature one finds in the average registered nurse. The same nature that has led us to this crisis point in the nursing profession... where kind, selfless individuals are taken advantage of to fill the pockets of some completely removed CFO's Armani pockets.

There is no easy answer to the question you're asking. No quick solution to the problem you're addressing. We are living and working amidst a new culture of healthcare in this country. One that has been shaped and molded over many years, and there is no change of directions in site. There is a shift towards financial gain and extreme oversight in hospital networks and a large portion of this shift is pushing into the realm of nursing. As the government/insurance companies press harder regulations for the same reimbursement, the business sector will make cuts and changes to offset the profit loss. Bottom dollar healthcare. It sickens me.

Appropriate staffing ratios. Not pulling staff that the unit qualifies for because other units are horribly short staffed. Reimbursement for the certifications constantly pushed by upper management. Raises that are at least equal to cost of living increases. Staffing and as a result, patient safety, however, are by and large the biggest factors in nurse satisfaction where I work.

Thank you all for your responses thus far. From the impression I'm getting, it's a feeling of being over worked with a focus on financials, instead of making a difference in people's lives.

What changes would you recommend? It is true that hospitals are trying to save money - there is a lot of uncertainty with new healthcare regulations. However, the focus should still be on serving people. Do you feel that the focus is on making money instead of serving people?

Thanks for the feedback and keep it comming!

Specializes in Anesthesia, ICU, PCU.

The focus is absolutely on making money instead of serving people.

Exhibit A: HCAHPS/Press Ganey scores. Are they for improving patient satisfaction, or are they for improving patient satisfaction with an emphasis on maximizing reimbursement? I wonder if patient satisfaction was as big a deal before CMS indicated that it would affect reimbursement. In truth, I do not know. But if I had to wager a guess I'd say NOPE.

TU RN, there are not enough "likes" in the world for your first comment! i agree with everything you said.

to the OP: you get what you pay for, and you get back what you put out. there are no shortcuts; attracting and retaining the best workers costs money. if your attitude is 'get as much from my workers as i can, as cheaply as i can", don't expect anyone to stay around a minute longer than they absolutely have to.

if you want people to go above and beyond for you, and/or be loyal to you, there's no other way to achieve that than to consistently go above and beyond for them.

i've been with my current company for a year. what makes them better than other companies i couldn't wait to get away from?

- higher than average pay

-reasonable staffing ratios, plenty of CNAs, and med techs.

-a pay rate that's actually worth leaving the house for

-safe nurse/pt ratios

-money

-better than adequate staffing

-money

-better than adequate staffing

are you getting a theme here?

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Adequate staffing

Fair pay

Reasonable expectations.

Legal protection from abuses with an open environment of communication regarding the same

As it is, we are short staffed, underpaid and held responsible for satisfaction ratings without enough staff to even provide the "hourly rounding" we are "required" to attend to. My husband did the algorithm. It literally is not possible to round hourly on each and every patient and still get all the charting and other requirements of our position accomplished, let along do the kind of bonding and service that we all know is the root of patient satisfaction. Our medical system is out of control.

Thank you all for your responses thus far. From the impression I'm getting, it's a feeling of being over worked with a focus on financials, instead of making a difference in people's lives.

no. forget the stereotype of the selfless angel who "just wants to make a difference!". nurses want the same things that are important to any other type of worker.

-pay them well

-be generous with things like vacation/personal days/PTO

-make sure there is always an adequate (ideally, better than just 'adequate') number of nurses/techs on every shift

-use PRNs instead of guilting or forcing staff nurses into working when they're sick

-comply with labor laws

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Less focus on the bottom line, more focus on patient safety.

-Provide adequate nursing and ancillary staff to provide the care the patient deserves, not just the care the patient needs because there's no time for the little things. Corollary: Realistic nurse : patient ratios.

-Provide adequate staffing to allow for uninterrupted breaks.

-Provide adequate training and orientation to new staff, not just throw them to the wolves after a week whether they are ready or not.

-Competitive wages. Our on call pay has been stagnated at $2/hour for at least 20 years. That doesn't even begin to cover the inconvenience of missing family events, being tied to the phone, getting called at all hours of the day/night, and the cost of gas to drive in. Also, the salary ranges have barely budged in the 10 years I've been with my current facility. Cost of living raises haven't happened in years; merit raises are a slap in the face at a few pennies, a dime if you got a really really good annual review.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

One of the poll options should have been 'other.' I am the type of person who will never be truly happy with any job in existence due to personality issues.

I describe myself as a creative, daydreaming, lazy person with an artistic flair who has never enjoyed working or following a rigid schedule, whether on my own timetable or an employer's timetable. The one thing I crave the most is unlimited, unstructured free time.

Employment cuts into my unstructured free time, and for that reason alone, I will never have the 'heart' for any type of work in existence. Furthermore, I do not particularly like interacting with people who don't know what they don't know.

If I had it my way, I'd receive a multimillion dollar lottery jackpot and spend unstructured free time traveling abroad, writing the next great American novel, attending college as a professional student, critiquing food at upscale restaurants, learning how to play new musical instruments, or just sleeping in everyday. However, my chances of receiving huge lottery winnings are minimal, so I keep a job to stay afloat while pretending to have my 'heart' in this.

For someone like me, the world of work is a difficult pill to swallow. I have never liked any job I've ever had, but I remain employed because I enjoy having a roof over my head and living in a neighborhood where I can walk around without getting shot, mugged or raped.

By the way, I became a nurse due to the relatively easy entry, steady income, flexible scheduling, and other practical reasons unrelated to some higher calling from above.

i should have added to my last comment, this is what my current company gets from me in return:

- i do a great job for my pts and have a positive attitude, and i can do the little extras that make pts feel like we actually care and aren't just throwing pills at them and rushing out the door.

- my co workers and i get along with each other and work as a team, which also helps pts ( in my experience, most interpersonal drama happens because everyone's overwhelmed and taking it out on each other)

- loyalty. i'm not looking to jump ship to another company (which seems to be one of the OP's primary concerns)

-as a PRN, i make it easy to solve your scheduling problems- i'll almost always come in when asked. i'll answer texts at 5 am and come in at the last minute. i'll work all the holidays, other people's vacation days, weekends, etc.

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