Inconsistent and incompletely reported measures of rural workforce retention limit evaluation and scalability of effective strategies. Research should explicitly define retention, specify a measurable time frame, and clearly report key conceptual and methodological elements to enable comparison across settings. For the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and other rural systems, clear retention metrics are essential to ensure workforce stability and sustain access to high-quality care for rural Veterans.
Mengeling et al. (Sun,) studied this question.