2 Major Factors for Nurse Turnover

To gain a theoretical understanding of why so many periop nurses are leaving their jobs. Carole “Gert” Mayes PhD, RN, NPD-BC, CNOR, and Karen Cochran, PhD, RN, CNOR, conducted a social science study on nurse turnover and found several significant results.

As they prepare to share their research at AORN’s upcoming Global Surgical Conference & Expo 2022, they explained how their findings could help leaders and staff reduce nurse turnover.

Why Periop Nurses Are Quitting

Last year these nurse researchers conducted what Mayes describes as a “classic grounded theory” study, which is a common approach in social science to learn more about an unknown phenomenon. They interviewed 26 perioperative nurses across the US to ask their reasons for choosing to leave an OR job. Next, they compared these responses to data trends in the literature, such as those found in AORN’s 2021 Salary Survey.

Then they began the inductive process to identify data categories where responses and research overlapped and synthesized these data to understand the most common overlaps. They found seven common factors that lead to periop nurse turnover. Two of these factors are:

1. A departmental culture and organizational culture that did not demonstrate respect for the nurses, support nurse well-being, or support a culture of safety had an impact on driving a periop nurse to quit.
2. Poor emotional well-being resulting from negative work environments and nurses’ suggestions for improvement being ignored repeatedly, resulted in burnout and stress leading them to quit.

Using Theory to Inform Nurse Retention

By sharing this first theory explaining factors influencing perioperative nurses’ decisions to leave their jobs, Mayes and Cochran hope staff and leaders can use this information to develop interventions aimed at retaining perioperative nurses.

“Leadership and perioperative team members must implement strategies to address the dimensions of perioperative nurse well-being in efforts to reduce turnover,” Mayes and Cochran stressed. Just as evidence should drive clinical practices, they hope leaders will consider new ways for evidence to inform staffing challenges.