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Executive Summary
* This research explores the extent to which "nursing roles, professional autonomy, and supportive communication from managers and co-workers predict nurses' organizational and professional identification."
* Nurse survey findings revealed that high levels of autonomy and support by managers improved the nurses' identification with the hospital.
* High levels of autonomy, support by colleagues, and duties focused on traditional bedside care increased nurses' identification with the nursing profession.
* Interestingly, nurses' support from their nurse manager predicted identification with the hospital, but not with the profession.
* The implications of this research support current trends in improving nurse recruitment and retention that empower nurses to create and manage their own healthy work environments.
* Supportive communication that creates trust and expresses appreciation remains an important practice on behalf of organizational leaders.
RISING NURSE TURNOVER compounds the problems of today's nursing shortage in our nation's hospitals, as registered nurses leave their organizations for reasons other than retirement (Buerhaus & Staiger, 1999; Buerhaus, Staiger, & Auerbach, 2000a; Murray, 2002). The most recent American Organization of Nurse Executives survey, conducted in 2000, showed that on average, the national turnover rate for hospital nursing staff was 21% or approximately 273,000 nurses (Lee, 2002). There has been a 7.4% increase in hospital nurse turnover between the mid-1980s and 2000. Thirty-three percent of nurses who are younger than age 30 plan to leave their nursing position within the year and 54% of nurses would not recommend their profession to others (Hopkins, 2001). The overall costs of nurse turnover are staggering. In the United States, it is estimated that overall nurse turnover costs, including recruitment, is $25,000 per nurse or approximately $6 billion annually (Shinkman, 2002).
Ten prominent work environment factors continue to be cited as reasons for heightened nurse turnover: insufficient wages for work effort, stagnant salaries, rising patient loads, declining patient care quality, dissatisfaction with scheduling, mandatory overtime, lack of professional recognition, problematic work relationships, unsatisfactory working conditions, and heightened job dissatisfaction due to workplace Stressors (Buerhaus et al., 2000a; Buiser, 2000; Laschinger, Finegan, & Shamian, 2001; Ray, Turkel, & Marino, 2002; Tri-Council for Nursing, 2001). Such varied factors illustrate that nurse turnover is a multi-issue problem for which there is no quick fix or "magic bullet"...