New nurses report job stress, need for better ...( BUFFALO N.Y. -- What keeps a newly ...),Health

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- What keeps a newly licensed nurse on the job" Answers to that question are important to hospitals across the U.S., many of which are confronting serious nursing shortages.

Based on results of a study to be published in the September 2007 issue of American Journal of Nursing, the top two priorities for hospitals to address the retention issue are improving nursing management and taking steps to reduce on-the-job stress.

The study surveyed the work experience of nurses from 35 states who obtained their first license between Aug. 1, 2004, and July 31, 2005, and had been employed for up to 18 months. Of the 3,226 respondents, 610 had already left their first job -- 41.8 percent due to poor management, and 37.2 percent because of stressful work conditions. Another 34 percent changed jobs because they wanted to get experience in a different clinical area. Carol S. Brewer, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University at Buffalo, was co-principal investigator on the study. Christine T. Kovner, Ph.D., professor at New York University's College of Nursing and senior fellow at the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, was first author and principal investigator.

This study helps to establish baseline data about a population that is particularly important both to the nursing profession and our health-care system, said Brewer. There is much conventional wisdom about the experiences of newly licensed nurses, but little fact. This study helps to fill that void, and provide insight into their career choices.

The nurses who responded will be followed for three more years to collect more information on conditions responsible for turnover.

Susan Hassmiller, Ph.D., leader of the team that focuses on health-care workforce issues at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., which funded the study, said: This study provides invaluable insight into the challenges health-care organizations
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