Factors contributing to retention of hospital nurses in urban and rural areas
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Date
1994
Department
Nursing
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to learn about the
characteristics of nurses who have maintained employment
relationships with hospitals and to identify differences in
characteristics among nurses working in urban and rural
areas. Using a three section self report questionnaire,
data was collected from 257 registered and licensed
practical nurses from two hospitals (one rural, one urban as
defined by the definition of metropolitan statistical areas)
in the state of Maryland. This represented 61.4% of the available nurse population in these two facilities.
The results found that rural nurses reported
significantly more nursing experience and service to their
hospitals; and experience significantly greater satisfaction
regarding issues of salary/departmental support, teamwork,
schedule/work environment, and patient/family interaction.
Nurses from both the rural and urban samples listed
location, friends, schedule and salary as factors affecting
their own reasons for maintenance of their positions. Further research should focus on validating the results
of this study to determine trends in retention based on
geographic regions. Consistent with The Model of Nurse
Retention, (Curran & Minnick, 1989) nurse retention was
found to be a highly complex and personal concept and each
institution must assess its own employees when developing
strategies to enhance employee retention.