Nursing Retention Strategies Contributing to Organizational Intent to Stay
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Authors
Ramos, Raquel
Date
2024-04-03
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Nursing retention , Retention strategies , Intent to stay , Inpatient nurses
Alternative Title
Abstract
Background: Canada is experiencing a nursing shortage related to factors such as increased number of older Canadians, persistent nursing shortage, and the impact of complex health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing shortages increases nurses’ workloads, stress and burnout which in turn causes nurses to leave their employment and the profession. Hospitals are a healthcare setting that have particularly been impacted by the nursing shortage. Retaining nurses within the profession and their organization is vital to mitigate the nursing shortage. Retention can be predicted by a nurses’ intention to stay with their organization. Various strategies to retain nurses have been implemented. However, little is known about which nursing retention strategies contribute to a nurses’ intent to stay.
Purpose: To examine which nursing retention strategies are important contributors to a nurses’ intent to stay within inpatient hospital settings.
Methods: A non-experimental exploratory cross-sectional study design was used. Two-hundred and seventy-one Registered Nurses and Registered Practical Nurses who provide direct care to inpatients in a university-affiliated hospital setting completed an online survey. The instruments used to measure intent to stay and retention strategies were McCain’s Intent to Stay subscale and the Meaningful Retention Strategy Inventory. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to determine which retention strategies predicted intent to stay.
Results: The final regression model explained 39% of the variance in intent to stay. Older nurses reported a higher intent to stay than younger nurses. Intent to stay increased when nurses agreed that social activities outside of work, on-site childcare, seniority-based scheduling and university-affiliated teaching hospital status were important contributors to remaining at the bedside. However, intent to stay decreased when nurses agreed that education for career development was an important contributor.
Conclusion: Age and five nursing retention strategies (social activities outside of work, on-site childcare, seniority-based scheduling, university-affiliated teaching hospitals, and education for career development) significantly predicted intent to stay. Education for career development negatively predicted of intent to stay and therefore should be the priority strategy as nurses who agreed with the strategy were more likely to not remain within the organization.