Individual and Organizational Factors Influencing Turnover among Young Nurses: Comparison between One and Five Years of Experience

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors influencing turnover and intention to resign among young Japanese nurses, particularly nurses with 1 and 5 years of experience, and to suggest a healthy work environment to continue with their career. Methods: From September to October 2007, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 2,443 nurses with less than 5 years of experience. This survey was conducted at 13 hospitals in Kansai, Tokai, and Kanto areas. We considered 2 groups comprising 587 nurses; the first group comprised 347 nurses with less than 1 year of experience, and the second comprised 240 nurses who had between 4 and 5 years of experience. Results: Organizational factors related to the intention to resign in both groups were freedom to talk to coworkers, staff motivation to learn, availability of space for resting, frequency of night work and salary, and the individual factor was the degree of which training was put to good use. In the group of nurses with 1 year experience, significant factors such as helping each other and self-esteem were observed. Significant factors in the other group included having meetings to discuss with each other, coworker consciousness to fulfill one's role, tools and facilities for nursing, a flexible shift and the ease with which paid vacation could be taken. Conclusion: For young nurses to continue their career, it was important for them to feel free to talk to coworkers, receive appropriate reward for their performance, rest on site, take paid vacations and have the support of an educational environment individually. An education environment was important for novice nurses in particular. For nurses with 4 to 5 years of experience, ability to discuss matters with each other and to be able to adapt their work to their personal life was important.