Significant staff shortages of registered nurses (RNs) have plagued hospitals for the past 10 years. The nurse shortage will worsen in the next 5 to 10 years, when a large part of the nursing workforce is expected to retire. Comments from 472 RNs who responded to a 2006 survey hint at factors that may impede nurse recruitment and retention.
Nurses recounted several factors that played a large role in their nursing career decisions. These included competing family and work priorities and the struggle to balance them, practice deterrents such as inadequate staffing and work overload, and collegial support.
Many nurses loved nursing as a career and took great pride in it, ...