Should I stay or should I go? Nurses' wishes to leave nursing homes and home nursing.

AIMS

This study investigates the prevalence of nurses' wishes to leave work in elderly care services and aims to explain differences between younger and older nurses.

BACKGROUND

Health-and-care services, and specifically elderly care services, experience problems recruiting and retaining nurses.

METHOD

A nationwide survey among nurses in Norway with 4,945 nurses aged 20-73 (mean age = 41.8), 95% female. Structural equation modelling was used, analysing the whole sample as well as analysing younger and older nurses as separate groups.

RESULTS

Of the nurses surveyed, 25% wanted to work outside elderly care services and 25% were uncertain. The wish to leave was much more frequent among younger nurses. Reported working conditions were a strong predictor of the wish to leave, and a much stronger predictor among younger nurses than older nurses in nursing homes.

CONCLUSIONS

Working conditions are a major predictor of nurses' wishes to leave elderly care services, especially among younger nurses in nursing homes.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Attempts to reduce turnover in elderly care services need to address the working conditions for younger nurses, for instance by reducing the time young nurses work in isolation.