Factors related to nurse retention and turnover: an updated study.

How to attract and retain hospital registered nurses (RNs) has become a recurring theme discussed by hospital boards, administrators and physicians in the U.S. This study seeks to provide current data on this situation. The exploratory research effort consisted of 13 depth interviews with physicians in a major metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S. and less formal discussions with six hospital nurse administrators. The formal research effort involved hand-delivering questionnaires to nurse administrators for distribution to nurses in six hospitals in the same region. The principle reasons nurses change jobs fall into four categories: salary or benefits, convenience, work schedule, and job-related stress. After one or more hospital moves the nurses become more satisfied. Hospital administrators should institute motivational and hospital commitment programs to improve retention/reduce turnover, e.g., work schedule rotation, work responsibility rotation, team approaches to health care and award/recognition programs.

A descriptive study of personal, institutional, and media sources of preventive health care information.

Wellness can be defined as a set of attitudes and behaviors indicating a person's perception of their ability to have some control over their physical well-being. One such behavior associated with wellness is the search and use of preventive health care information. Preventive health care information is the oral and written knowledge available to consumers concerning preventive health care issues. This study examines various demographic characteristics and their association with the propensities to be knowledgeable, seek, and to experience lifestyle changes resulting from preventive health care information. It also examines the relative importance to respondents of three broad sources of preventive health care information.