Addressing the Nursing Shortage and Turnover Dilemma

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Nursing Shortage and Nursing Turnover Introduction The nursing shortage and turnover are an issue that continually, constantly and bedevils the nursing leaders and managers. Without sufficient numbers in nursing, patient care and safety is considerably compromised, with lapses in service delivery, overworked and overwhelmed nurses more prone to making mistakes and across board dissatisfaction. Nursing shortage leads to nurse turnover because of the ones carrying our nursing duties are finding it hard to meet the demand, and they eventually burn out. This paper critically examines the issues of the nursing shortage and turnover and how the nurse leaders and managers can tackle the situation, easing the outcomes (The Truth About Nursing, 2012). Nursing leaders and managers’ approach to the issue There is a surge of retiring nurses and a rising number of patients. Hospitals are scrambling to fill the tens of thousands of nursing positions, therefore, asks the question as to …show more content…

The thought is that about 18% of new nurses leave their jobs within the first year with a national average registered nurse turnover of 17.2% (The Truth About Nursing, 2012). There are several causes of nurses’ turnover, which include lack of job satisfaction. Scheduling has also caused problems for nurses, mandatory overtime; patients are becoming sicker and need a higher level of care leading them to quit. Without recourse, the nurses opt to leave their jobs to concentrate on other jobs or areas of nursing. Other causes include the lack of autonomy and ineffective leaders and managers. It is expensive to replace the nurses who leave, since they leave with the knowledge, training, and expertise that has to be imparted on new nurses, requiring more resources. The estimated cost is at $37,000 give or take (The Truth About Nursing,

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