State Psychiatric Hospitals Struggle to Attract and Retain Nurses

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

state psychiatric hospitals struggle to attract and retain nurses

north carolina's state-owned psychiatric hospitals reported high vacancy and turnover rates for registered nurses (rns) last year, according to a recent report from the north carolina center for nursing titled "nursing workforce issues in state-owned psychiatric hospitals."

...although north carolina has planned a downsizing of state-owned psychiatric hospitals, three of the four hospitals report that their nursing workforce needs will not decrease substantially over the next few years. in fact, collectively the hospitals report that they need more nurses than they currently have. almost 21 percent of rn positions in these psychiatric hospitals were vacant as of october 1, 2004, compared with only 6.5 percent of rn positions in non-psychiatric hospitals in the state. consistent with this high vacancy rate, psychiatric hospitals report increased use of over-time, heavy workloads for staff, low morale, and increased absenteeism. the hospitals find it most difficult to hire staff rns with specialty training in mental health. on average it takes nearly five months to fill those types of rn positions.

http://www.nursenc.org/newsroom/docadobe/psych%20hospital%20report%20final.pdf

http://www.nursenc.org/research/empsurv2004/psych%20hospitals%20final.pdf