New Study Notes Job Pressure Linked to New Nurse Turnover

A new research study published in the July/August issue of Nursing Outlook finds that changes to the work environment where nurses begin their careers could help reduce turnover, an expense that can strain hospital budgets, exacerbate the nursing shortage, and negatively impact patient care. The article comes at a time when about 18.1 percent of newly licensed RNs are leaving their first nursing employer within a year of starting their job, and about 26.2 percent leave within two years.

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study found that many novice nurses are dissatisfied with their first jobs due to a variety of unexpected situations they face in the primarily hospital-based environments where they begin their careers. Regardless of their negative perceptions, many of the nurses who responded to the survey felt hopeful that they could help reform work environments and patient care.