Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Oct 13;26(1):310.
doi: 10.1186/s13054-022-04182-y.

Ten areas for ICU clinicians to be aware of to help retain nurses in the ICU

Jean-Louis Vincent  1 , Carole Boulanger  2 , Margo M C van Mol  3 , Laura Hawryluck  4 , Elie Azoulay  5
Affiliations
Review

Ten areas for ICU clinicians to be aware of to help retain nurses in the ICU

Jean-Louis Vincent et al. Crit Care. .

Abstract

Shortage of nurses on the ICU is not a new phenomenon, but has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The underlying reasons are relatively well-recognized, and include excessive workload, moral distress, and perception of inappropriate care, leading to burnout and increased intent to leave, setting up a vicious circle whereby fewer nurses result in increased pressure and stress on those remaining. Nursing shortages impact patient care and quality-of-work life for all ICU staff and efforts should be made by management, nurse leaders, and ICU clinicians to understand and ameliorate the factors that lead nurses to leave. Here, we highlight 10 broad areas that ICU clinicians should be aware of that may improve quality of work-life and thus potentially help with critical care nurse retention.

Keywords: Burnout; Leadership; Moral distress; Teamwork.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

JLV is Editor-in-Chief of Critical Care—he has no other conflicts of interest to declare. CB has no conflicts of interest to declare. MMCvM has no conflicts of interest to declare. LH has no conflicts of interest to declare. EA has no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

    1. Shen X, Zou X, Zhong X, Yan J, Li L. Psychological stress of ICU nurses in the time of COVID-19. Crit Care. 2020;24:200. doi: 10.1186/s13054-020-02926-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bruyneel A, Smith P, Tack J, Pirson M. Prevalence of burnout risk and factors associated with burnout risk among ICU nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak in French speaking Belgium. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2021;65:103059. doi: 10.1016/j.iccn.2021.103059. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guttormson JL, Calkins K, McAndrew N, Fitzgerald J, Losurdo H, Loonsfoot D. Critical care nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a US national survey. Am J Crit Care. 2022;31:96–103. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2022312. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rodriguez-Ruiz E, Campelo-Izquierdo M, Boga VP, Mansilla RM, Estany-Gestal A, Blanco HA, et al. Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic on moral distress among nurses and physicians in Spanish ICUs. Crit Care Med. 2022;50:e487–e497. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000005434. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. LeClaire M, Poplau S, Linzer M, Brown R, Sinsky C. Compromised integrity, burnout, and intent to leave the job in critical care nurses and physicians. Crit Care Explor. 2022;4:e0629. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000629. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources