Recruit from within: Hospital nurse retention in the 1980s

Nursing administrators and nurse recruiters coping with staffing shortages can profit from some recent studies of the causes of nursing turnover. Research reveals that the problem lies not in the motivations or characteristics of individual nurses but the nature of hospital nursing jobs and incentive structures. Using the research findings as a basis for discussion, Weisman suggests target areas for administrative intervention in the design of hospital nursing jobs. Her insightful commentary provides stimulus for some basic rethinking of the nature of nursing jobs and the traditional employer-employee relationship between hospitals and nurses — as well as some specific suggestions for “recruiting from within” to retain those productive nurses in whom the hospital has already invested time and money.