Nurse turnover materializes when a nurse decides to leave a healthcare facility for any given reason, ranging from retirement to changing professions to opting to work for a different organization. It is one of the most challenging healthcare leaders encounter, and understanding it is essential in laying the foundation for comprehending how to address it effectively. Nurse turnover has a negative impact on the delivery of quality care, thus compromising better patient outcomes. For instance, a 10% point increase in nurse turnover in California leads to a facility receiving 1.8 additional deficiencies per annual regulatory survey, reflecting a 16.5% increase (Antwi & Bowblis, 2018). It undermines quality care by increasing the number of patients per nurse. It increases the workload for nurses, making them exhausted, and increases job-related stress, increasing the chances of medical errors. It implies that an increase in nurse turnover undercuts the ability of a healthcare facility to fulfill its mandate of providing quality and convenient care to patients. This paper discusses employee wellness programs as a strategy for addressing nurse turnover, the role of transformational leadership in tackling nurse turnover, and the role of a nurse in an interdisciplinary team.
Implementing or providing employee wellness programs is an initiative that allows healthcare facilities to address the issue of nurse turnover. It addresses nurse turnover by enhancing employee satisfaction, leading to nurses being committed to the organization and their roles. The essence of these programs is that they create an atmosphere that aids in retaining nurses. They assist nurses in coping with stress and improving self-care skills. It plays a critical role in making them more comfortable in their roles; thus, not inferring the need to move to other professions or another organization (Labrague et al., 2020). The implementation of employee wellness programs can increase the operation cost of the organization since it requires massive financial investment to execute such programs. The most incurred in executing these programs is worthwhile since the benefits of implementing employee wellness programs outweigh the costs.
Transformational leadership plays a critical role in addressing the issue of nurse turnover. This leadership style aligns with aspects strongly correlated with employee retention. Nurses who work under transformational leadership are usually devoted and put an effort to ensure that their organization is successful. Nurses are more likely to stay in their jobs because they feel that their work is valued. It gives them a sense of purpose and gratification, minimizing or alleviating the possibility of them exiting their jobs in search of better employment opportunities. Transformational leadership minimizes nurse turnover through promoting a healthy environment for employees and staff, which leads to improved staff satisfaction, retention, and patient satisfaction (Labrague et al., 2020).
Democratic leadership emphasizes communication and engagement. In contrast, transformational leadership focuses on fashioning relationship connections that amplify motivation and morality in leaders and followers. It implies that transformational leadership fosters ethical leadership that is critical in reinforcing nurse retention (Labrague et al., 2020). Democratic leadership emphasizes collaboration and participation in decision-making. In contrast, transformational leadership focuses on individual and professional growth and inspiration for attaining a shared goal. Work motivation and nursing practice environment theories can be utilized to address nurse turnover. Work motivation theory addresses nurse turnover by highlighting factors that inspire employees to be dedicated to their duties and roles. Nursing practice environment theory tackles the matter of nurse turnover by emphasizing environmental factors that promote the welfare of nurses and reinforce satisfaction. For instance, it enhances employee retention through reinforcing job fulfillment via ensuring a healthy and favorable work environment, fundamental sanitation, clean water and air, and a supportive work atmosphere.
The role of the nurse in the interdisciplinary team in promoting patient quality and safety care is coordinating with other professionals to ensure the specific needs of patients are met. They play a critical role in educating clients to ensure they align with the treatment plan to ensure its effectiveness in achieving the desired outcomes. The nurse contributes to the evaluation of patient outcomes to ensure the team makes an informed decision concerning the appropriate steps to take to enhance the patient’s recovery and ensure their safety (Levesque et al., 2022). Networking with a team of professionals fosters the competencies and skills of the nurse, thus enhancing job satisfaction. It goes a long way in minimizing nurse retention.
In conclusion, nurse turnover is a serious issue that requires urgent attention. This is because it compromises quality care and patient satisfaction through increasing stress and overload for nurses. It increases the chances of medical errors. An increase in nurse turnover undermines desirable and better patient outcomes through increasing deficiencies in healthcare facilities. It undermines the capacity of hospitals and healthcare providers to meet the needs of patients. Understanding the causes of nurse turnover, such as lack of motivation, lack of job satisfaction, and work-related stress, lays the foundation for addressing the issue of nurse turnover.
References
Antwi, Y. A., & Bowblis, J. R. (2018). The impact of nurse turnover on quality of care and mortality in nursing homes: Evidence from the great recession. American Journal of Health Economics, 4(2), 131-163. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1162/ajhe_a_00096
Labrague, L. J., Nwafor, C. E., & Tsaras, K. (2020). Influence of toxic and transformational leadership practices on nurses’ job satisfaction, job stress, absenteeism and turnover intention: A cross‐sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(5), 1104-1113. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13053
Levesque, M. J., Etherington, C., Lalonde, M., & Stacey, D. (2022). Interprofessional Collaboration in the OR: A Qualitative Study of Nurses’ Perspectives. AORN journal, 116(4), 300-311. https://doi.org/10.1002/aorn.13784
write