Background: Registered nurse (RN) turnover is a recurring phenomenon that accelerated during COVID-19 and heightened concerns about contributing factors.
Purpose: Provide baseline RN turnover data to which pandemic and future RN workforce turnover behaviors can be compared.
Methods: A cross-sectional, secondary analysis of RN turnover using U.S. National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses 2018 data. Responses from 41,428 RNs (weighted N = 3,092,991) across the United States were analyzed. Sociodemographic, professional, employment, and economic data and weighting techniques were used to model prepandemic RN turnover behaviors.
Discussion: About 17% of the sample reported a job turnover, with 6.2% reporting internal and 10.8% reporting external turnover. The factors common across both internal and external turnover experiences included education, employment settings, and years of nursing experience.
Conclusions: Baseline RN turnover data can help employers and policymakers understand new and recurring nursing workforce trends and develop targeted actions to reduce nurse turnover.
Keywords: Nurse retention; Nurse turnover; Nursing workforce; United States.
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