Hospital Demography and Turnover Among Nurses

There has been increasing interest in examining turnover at the organizational level of analysis. In a study using a sample of more than 250 hospitals, turnover among nurses is found to be negatively related to the local unemployment rate and positively related to two demographic measures which assess the degree of inequality or heterogeneity in length of service among nurses. Turnover in this study is shown to be related to heterogeneity among cohorts, not individuals or groups. The results are consistent with earlier studies which have shown the importance of organizational demography for understanding turnover and demonstrate important differences in the way in which demography can be measured.