Dealing with premature employee turnover

Abstract

Premature nurse turnover was a topic of critical concern to nursing managers through the early 1980s. For the past few years, there has been less discussion of such turnover and what had previously been an acute shortage of nurses. A recent Wall Street Journal article suggests why this lack of overt interest in nurse turnover may have arisen: "Economic downturns, paradoxically, often act as apparent cures for existing problems. In the midst of the past recession, for example, few companies [substitute hospitals] paid much attention to a management problem that was pervasive during the prerecession growth period: professional turnover." While the earlier nursing shortage may never reappear as critically as before, it is increasingly clear that understanding the causes of premature nurse turnover is essential if hospitals are to be able to retain their most valued nurse staff members. Thus, there remains a strong interest in the attitudinal precursors of such turnover and how they might help nursing managers avert dysfunctional nurse turnover.