Nurse Turnover: Understand it, Reduce it

Authors and Disclosures

Franklin A. Shaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, FFNMRCSI and Leah Curtin, ScD(h), RN, FAAN

Franklin A. Shaffer is the president and chief executive officer at CGFNS International, Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Leah Curtin is executive editor, professional outreach, for American Nurse Journal.

Sidebar

Risks of Mandatory Overtime

One troubling staffing solution that is being used is mandatory overtime. Presumably, hospital administrators believe that mandatory overtime (which is almost universally banned by hospitals that have achieved American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet® recognition) will save money by limiting recruitment and benefit expenses. However, several studies show that it's one of the worst practices to emerge from the era of downsizing and managed care. Mandatory overtime:

• discourages nurses from accepting employment

• encourages existing nursing staff to think about leaving

• generates costs associated with

   • increased turnover

   • longer patient stays

   • lower productivity

   • higher treatment error rates.