The influence of teamwork culture on physician and nurse resignation rates in hospitals

Employee turnover is a critical concern, particularly for hospitals, because they face a very tight labour market for hiring replacements, and high turnover itself may have substantial negative effects on the continuity and quality of patient care. Hospitals with a stronger teamwork culture may experience lower turnover but this has not been formally studied. Research on determinants of employee turnover has not separated out resignations from the larger, more inclusive definition of turnover that includes retirement. This study investigated the relationship between the teamwork culture of hospitals and physician and nurse resignation rates. The study setting was the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Each hospital was assessed on teamwork culture based on a survey of current employees. Hospital-level resignation rates were obtained for physicians and nurses. Separate multivariate regression models on physicians and nurses were employed. The models included hospital-level characteristics and labour market variables. Analysis of covariance was also performed to attempt to further reveal effects in high versus low teamwork culture hospitals. Teamwork culture was negatively associated with nurse and physician resignation rates, but was statistically significant in the nurse resignation model only. Additional analyses indicated a 0.47 standard deviation (SD) difference in nurse resignation rates and a 0.40 SD difference in physician resignation rates between hospitals in the top and bottom quartiles of the distribution for teamwork culture. In conclusion, these results suggest that developing and emphasizing a teamwork culture may facilitate greater retention of health-care employees, especially nurses.