Released to coincide with the kickoff of National Nurses Week, new data on ongoing staffing shortages suggest that the percentage of nurses with plans to leave the field continues to weigh heavy on the healthcare system.
Survey results published by McKinsey and Co. revealed that up to 31% of nurses intend to leave their current direct patient care position within the next year. This alone is not surprising, as the healthcare industry lost tens of thousands of workers during the Great Resignation. But with the height of COVID now seemingly in the rearview mirror, the issue’s persistence is a concern, according to authors of the new report.
“When we tabulated the results of our first nationwide nursing survey almost two years ago, we were surprised to see such a high reported likelihood of nurses planning to leave their jobs—and we did not expect this trend to persist for such an extended period of time,” wrote co-authors Gretchen Berlin, Faith Burns, Connor Essick, Meredith Lapointe, and Mhoire Murphy, representing views from McKinsey’s Healthcare Practice.
The survey was conducted in September 2022; 386 frontline nurses who provide direct patient care in the U.S. participated. In addition to bringing light to nurses' intentions regarding their medical careers, the responses also provided valuable insight into what factors contribute to the decision to resign.
The top 10 reasons nurses leave their job are as follows:
Not feeling valued by their organization (52%).
Inadequate compensation (52%).
No work/life balance (51%).
Unmanageable workload (46%).
Better job (43%).
Not valued by manager (41%).
Unsafe working environment (31%).
Lack of flexibility in work schedule (30%).
No sense of belonging (26%).
Negative interactions/no potential for advancement (tied at 23%).
Although the authors cautioned that there is still much to be done to address these issues, they remain optimistic in systems’ abilities to rise to the challenge with “consistent and dedicated attention from many parties.”
The detailed report can be found here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.