Registered Nurses Leaving the Profession in the First Two Years

Registered nurses are leaving the profession within the first two years of practice at rates as high as 33%. It has been suggested that nurses leave due to factors such as bullying by coworkers, inadequate educational preparation and/or orientation as a new hire, and more recently, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Retention and work dissatisfaction remain key areas of study within nursing research. However, most studies consider intent to leave, versus studying those nurses who have actually left the profession. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the reasons that novice nurses have left their positions within this timeframe. The study included interviews with 17 registered nurses to examine reasons why they left the nursing profession and how they might have been retained. Themes that emerged from this study included Overworked, Family Obligations, Management, Not Completely Gone, and Additional Findings. The discussion of study findings describes potential interventions that may be helpful to retain nurses, such as self-scheduling with manager training and buy-in, and implications for future research.