Increasing the Retention Rate of

Experienced Nurses
Alexis Catlett, Tiah Harkins, Sara Whitley, Jenna Witte, Lauren Worley
The measurement of the number of employees who leave an organization
during a specified time period

The rate at which a company can keep consistent, long-term employees

Productivity
Efficiency
Cost Effective
 ● Respectful treatment
● Fair compensation
● Open lines of communication
Retention ● Promote teamwork
● Praise, rewards
Strategies ● Mentorship programs
● Healthy work-life balance
● An aging population, changing demographics, and a leveling-off of nursing school
enrollment has led to a nationwide nursing shortage, especially in acute care.
● This leads to insufficient staffing which causes numerous other problems. All of this
impacts job satisfaction and drives many nurses to leave their jobs.
● Analyzing the various reasons behind the increased level of turnover helps to identify ways
to resolve it and improve nurse retention.

58.1% of hospitals have strategies in place to protect new hires, but only 16.4% have a
strategy on retaining experienced workers. (NSI, 2019)

● Nurses express feeling unheard and unsupported by management when reporting

concerns and suggestions related to these issues.

START SMALL and FOLLOW THROUGH

“The value hospitals place on their people will have a direct correlation to their
commitment, confidence and engagement.”
● Focus of the micro level analysis is on nurse retention at St. Mary’s Hospital.
● Data collected from 2019 demonstrated a nurse turnover rate for the entire
hospital segmented by unit.
● Another survey was then used to collect data based on workplace satisfaction
compared to other magnet hospitals.
● Areas where SMH performed less adequately than magnet means were in areas
related to:
- Ineffective communication with management/inability to feel understood
- Lack of workplace support
- Dissatisfying work environment

● Pending Survey Monkey results from

SMH retention officer.
Root Cause
According to the 2019 NDNQI Survey, when compared to the other
nationally Magnet certified hospitals, nurses at St. Mary’s feel as
though supervisory staff are not supportive and administration
does not listen or respond to RN concerns.
 Solution
● Solution: “Monthly Check-Up”

● Goal: to assess experienced nurses’ perceptions of their current

work environment so that unit specific concerns are recognized
& changes can to be made to improve job satisfaction, and thus
increase nurse retention.
 Benefits to Retaining Experienced Nurses
○ Improved patient safety and quality of care
○ Decreased costs for healthcare system
○ Lower nurse to patient ratios
○ Maintained or increased productivity
○ Improved work environment & culture
Logistics
● Creation of generalizable survey
○ Unit-based
○ Completed by acute care nurses monthly
● Results reported to:
○ Retention officer
○ Unit based council
● Incentives for participation
○ Acknowledgment of concerns
○ Unit completion reward
Key Stakeholders
● Acute care nurses
● Nursing Managers
● Nursing supervisors
● Nursing executives
● Retention officers
● Patients
Costs
● Survey design
○ Google Forms
○ Surveymonkey
● Data analysis
○ Completed by retention office
● Unit completion reward
● Expenses born of potential retention solutions
Timeline
● Survey design approval by 06/01/20
● Introduce survey to staff by 07/01/20
● Implement trial of survey by 08/01/20
● Rollout official survey by 10/01/20
● Results reviewed quarterly
Data Collection
● According to 2019 Nurse Survey (NDNQI) St. Mary’s hospital (SMH) fell below the
National hospital Magnet mean (MM) in the following areas:

○ Administration that listens and responds to employee concerns (SMH

2.76%/MM 2.82%)
○ Supervisory staff that is supportive of the nurses (SMH 3.18%/MM 3.19%)
○ 3 year % planning to leave the unit because of dissatisfaction of work
environment (SMH 26.99%/MM 24.79%)
Conclusion
MACRO: Nationwide nursing shortage
MICRO: Ineffective communication, lack of
workplace support, dissatisfying work
environment
ROOT CAUSE: Experienced nurses at SMH feel
as though supervisory staff is not supportive &
administration does not listen or respond to
their concerns.
Evidence suggests that job dissatisfaction
affects retention rates.
SOLUTION: User friendly “Monthly Check Up” via
online survey to assess experienced nurses’
perceptions of their current work environment in
the effort to improve job satisfaction and
increase retention.
Survey results will be collected monthly and
forwarded to the retention office for analysis.
After it is analyzed the information will be sent
to the unit based council. Once solutions are
created, each prospective units’
supervisors/managers will be notified.
References