Factors influencing the turnover of nurses in French intensive care unit—A multicenter interview survey

Background

Nurse retention is a major concern in healthcare settings, especially among intensive care units (ICU), in which nurses are highly specialized. The objective was to describe the nurse courses after their entrance into the ICU, their motivation for leaving the ICU, and to identify the independent factors that influenced the nurse resignation from their units.

Methods

In 3 different centers, every ICU nurse working between 2013 and 2023 was telephonically contacted and was asked to describe their career and, when appropriate, the reasons that influenced their resignation from their units; they rated on a Likert scale of 14 factors that influenced their decision.

Results

Among the 405 nurses who worked in these ICUs between 2013 and 2023, 265 (65.0%) were included in the study, and 93 (35.1%) were still working in their unit. The median time of professional experience of the nurses in their ICU was 5.8 [5.0–7.0] years, and at 10 years, 26.3% [20.4–33.9] of the nurses remained in their unit, 23.8% [17.3–32.8] left the ICU but were still in-hospital nurses, and 22.4% [15.8–31.7] underwent specialization. A minority of nurses resigned and changed their careers (9.5% [5.3–17.0]). The main factors influencing the nurse’s resignation from their unit were belonging to Generation Y or Z (HR 1.89 [1.35;2.64]), experiencing symptoms of burnout (2.37 [1.63;3.46]), and pregnancy during the ICU (1.77 [1.41;2.23]). The COVID-19 period was inconsistently associated with nurse resignation depending on the center. The main motivations to leave the unit were organizational (variability of schedule, night shift), personal (willingness to change, personal event), and related to the ICU workload.

Conclusion

Nurse retention is an increasing concern, associated with the generational aspects and increased prevalence of burnout. Structural changes will have to be made to reduce the turnover.