Study explores why nurses stay

Unit culture, peers and scheduling were top factors influencing front-line nurses’ decisions to remain in their positions, according to a study. They considered leaving for salary, growth/development and traveling opportunities. Published in the March issue of Journal of Nursing Administration, nurse leaders at an academic medical center in Pennsylvania used stay interviews on two units experiencing high turnover to determine factors contributing to nurse retention and turnover. Leaders can use the information gleaned from stay interviews to improve the practice environment and convince RNs completing travel contracts to become permanent employees. Another study published in the March issue of JONA concluded that providing cognitive skills training to individual nurses and offering organizational-based stress interventions and leadership development programs could reduce nurse exhaustion.