International Journal of Nursing

Leadership Strategies to Improve Nurse Retention
F. Jordan Colwell, DBA, MHA, RN

Abstract
The nursing shortage and high turnover rates are a problem in the United States. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore leadership strategies that hospital senior nurse managers in the Rocky Mountain States use to improve nurse retention. Participants were 6 hospital senior nurse managers including 3 chief nursing officers, 1 assistant chief nursing officer, and 2 directors who had demonstrated effective leadership strategies in retention of nurses. The leadership-motivated excellence theory was the conceptual framework. Semi structured interviews with open-ended interview questions were used to collect data; organization websites and documents were used to help corroborate evidence for triangulation. Data were analyzed using Yin’s data analysis method. The major themes were leadership and retention strategies. The leadership strategies were senior nurse managers guiding, coaching, and mentoring registered nurses, and the retention strategies were tools used to motivate and retain registered nurses. The results may bring about positive social change by providing hospitals with leadership strategies to retain nurses. Improved retention rates of registered nurses may enhance the competitive advantage for hospitals by improving patient satisfaction scores and improving care. This improvement may result in increased hospital reimbursements and may influence organizational commitment to improving patient outcomes.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijn.v6n1a18