Reasons For The High Attrition Rates Among Newly Qualified Nurses (Research Paper Sample)

Reasons for the High Attrition Rates among Newly Qualified Nurses
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Nurses play a critical role in any hospital to ensure that patients are satisfied. Indeed, hospitals have the responsibility of ensuring patient satisfaction and nurses provide the most interaction with those seeking treatment while they are in the hospital. Moreover, nurses help hospitals to provide high-quality care. Despite the nurses playing a critical role in ensuring patient satisfaction, recruiting and retaining them is time-consuming and hectic. Thus, retaining the nurses, particularly the newly qualified ones, is a critical task for hospitals. The reasons for the high attrition rates among newly qualified nurses are dependent on some factors related to work and personal needs. A study conducted by Hayajneh et al. (2009) in the UK found that around 10% of nurses leave the profession due to retirement while 24% transfer to another organization (p. 456). Moreover, 5% of the nurses go to the non-national health sector employment and 24% leave because of redundant factors such as personal reasons and career break (Hayajneh et al. 2009, p. 456). Therefore, the following is a discussion of our findings relating to the high attrition rates among newly qualified nurses within the first one to two years in the UK.
Reasons for the High Attrition Rates among NQN in the UK
The work environment plays a significant role for a person to consider not leaving the job for another one. Our research determined that a friendly work environment reduces the rate of employee turnover or attrition. This finding was found to be consistent with a similar research conducted by Crow, Smith, and Hartman (2005), which established that a friendly work environment reduces the rates of attrition by 30% (p. 340). The research involved a qualitative survey of the newly qualified nurses who provided their views on what contributed to turnover. Therefore, a newly qualified nurse will not consider leaving the profession when he or she first joins a healthy work environment. The workload was also found to contribute to job dissatisfaction among the newly qualified nurses. More specifically, a heavy workload affected the motivation of freshly qualified nurse employees and triggered their minds to consider quitting the job. This position also corresponds with the findings of a research conducted by Whitehead et al. (2013). The study determined that attrition rates could be predicted through long shifts, holidays, weekends, and weekend overtime. Similarly, according to Stickney (2008, p. 423), extended shifts and overtime put the newly qualified nurses into a state of high physical anxieties, leaving them fatigued with less drive to cope with the job pressure efficiently. Another study by O'Donnell (2009) concluded that the nursing profession becomes more intense with higher workloads resulting in the discouragement of the nurses from performing their work, and, thus, they seek to leave the job (p. 38). That scenario is more common in mental health facilities where stress levels are high.
Lack of control was another factor found to be associated with high attrition rates among the newly qualified nurses. In a research done by Baernholdt & Mark (2009), non-involvement of the nurses in the process of making decisions was found to be a critical factor for job dissatisfaction among them, especially the newly qualified nurses who are often left out of key decisions. Moreover, the inability to dispense one’s duties in a manner that one understands best can be a significant source of stress and burnout (Urwin et al., 2010, p. 205). In this context, strict administrative policies that minimize autonomy stand a higher chance of increasing turnover. According to Hayajneh et al. (2009), inadequate reward and unfairness can lead to high rates of attrition. In particular, the lack of acknowledgment of the contribution of other nurses can result in the work environment lacking opportunities to advance, leading to stress, which motivates the newly qualified nurses to leave the job (Carter & Tourangeau 2012, p. 1589).
The unavailability of senior charge nurses to offer support was found to be a demographic variable that contributes to newly qualified nurse attrition. Research by Williams (2010) also determined that turnover and attrition rates tend to be higher among the newly qualified nurses during the first year and remain higher during the second year. In line with the finding, another study in the UK established that 34% of the newly qualified nurses did not register to practice (Holtom & Inderrieden 2006, p. 30). When the newly qualified nurses enter the job for the first time, anticipation of what to expect in the new job gets them motivated. However, when they realize that the work environment is not supportive, the job reality and personal expectations begin to change, and frustration becomes the order of the day. Th result is the commonly studied transition shock. If the situations are not addressed adequately, stress accumulates, leading to the stages of burnout. Noteworthy, newly qualified nurses are not sufficiently empowered to cope with high work-related stress (Hayes et al. 2006, p. 241). The problem is compounded by the absence of mentorship and smooth orientation schedules, which are essential until they receive a full understanding of how they should work in an environment of high stress. Chenoweth et al. (2010) also determined that high rates of exhaustion lead to attrition of newly qualified nurses during their first and second years of their employment.
Staffing also played a significant role in promoting higher attrition levels among the newly qualified nurses. Several factors related to staffing including low staffing, the resultant relentless pressure, and uncooperative colleagues can lead to increased attrition levels for NQNs. This finding is consistent with a study conducted by Arrowsmith and Miller (2013) that discovered that the majority of NQNs are likely to leave the hospital if they feel the institution does not have proper staffing levels. Moreover, a hospital may have enough staff, but unorganized units may influence the nurses' turnover. Some nurses may also find the job quite stressful and consider quitting if they feel they are taking care of more difficult patients than their colleagues (Arrowsmith & Miller 2013, p. 569). Therefore, staff shortages and relentless pressure compounded by a lower pay play a critical role in increasing the rates of NQNs turnover.
In addition to the above study findings, our research also determined that lack of social support within the hospital environment plays a role in influencing newly qualified nurses to quit the job. In a study to determine the effect of social support for newly qualified nurses, Horsburgh and Ross (2013) discovered that social support provides greater coping strategies that can help the newly qualified nurses deal with the stress of transition such as getting used to a new job, understanding clinical skills, and becoming a member of the healthcare team. Interaction and effective working relationships are vital for job satisfaction, and lack of these factors in the workplace can lead to employee turnover during their first or second years of employment (Peterson-Graziose, Bryer & Nikolaidou 2013, p. 351).
Our study also found that lack of secure time for preceptor and preceptee increases the rates of attrition among NQNs. According to a research study conducted in the UK by Peterson-Graziose, Bryer, and Nikolaidou (2013), newly qualified nurses were found to leave the job within their first or second years of employment due to a poor score on self-confidence skills and nursing competency perceptions (p. 352). Therefore, building self-confidence is critical to the success of a hospital in giving quality healthcare, which implies that helping new graduates to develop confidence is significant in the first few days of their work. Thus, preceptor support, appropriate employee expectations, and chances for collaboration play a critical role in building new nurse confidence. Work environments that do not promote the task of building nurse confidence increase the chances of the workers quitting the job within the first and second years of employment.
Lower score for the enjoyment of one's job contributes to higher rates of attrition for the newly qualified nurses. Our research determined that nurses have different opinions concerning what they call a good day, and the most critical matter in this respect is that for newly qualified nurses, positive experiences and support systems are vital for low role ambiguity and conflict (Rhéaume, Clément & LeBel 2011, p. 496). Another factor that is associated with an increased rate of attrition for newly qualified nurses is lower levels of organizational commitment. Engagement is positively associated with job involvement and the years an employee can work in an organization, and negatively related to workload and turnover. This finding corresponds to the study by Tourangeat & Cranley (2006) who found that emotional exhaustion relates negatively to job satisfaction and organizational commitment (p. 501). Therefore, empowerment plays a critical role in creating a positive work-life that discourages high rates of attrition among the newly qualified nurses.
Evidently, there exists numerous reasons for increased rates of attrition among the newly qualified nurses during their first and second years of employment in the UK. The findings are supported by existing literature as discussed above. It was found that newly qualified nurses are motivated to leave their job because of various reasons ranging from the poor work environment, lack of commitment, poor orientation leve...