Leadership Practices on Nurse Retention - Research Paper Sample

Introduction

Increasing nurse shortage across the world has motivated the search for strategies to retain nurses in their work station and increase their numbers. While some nurses are leaving the career, others leave their positions and facilities for better places leading to shortages (Sojane et al., 2016, 2). Nurses intend to leave to shift to a better working environment or career that enables an individual to maximize their abilities and growth in the profession. Poor working conditions and dissatisfaction with the career progress are among the commonly cited reasons for nurse intention to leave (Sojane et al., 2016, 2). Such a working environment lacks the needed empowerment to enable nurses to become effective and maximize their abilities. Nurse empowerment is a nurse leader's behavior to share their power, information, and rewards (Radhakrishnan & Anuchithra, 2016, 318). Such sharing impacts nurses' ability to perform their duties due to the impact on their knowledge and beliefs about nursing. The leaders have access to the top management for resources and structures of work, which nurses need to serve efficiently and develop a sense of career. Therefore, the proposed study seeks to determine whether empowerment from nurse leaders can reduce the intention to leave.

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Research Problem

Studies show that the nurse practice environment is a significant aspect that affects nurses' wellbeing (Sojane et al., 2016, 2). Nurses depend on the work environment for work engagement and energy to provide patient care. Where they lack the energy and engagement, there are high chances of leaving the work due to fear of putting patients' lives at risk and inability to advance in their career. The environment comprises the hospital administration and nurse leaders who supply the required resources and provide nurses security. However, managers who are nurse leaders are more significant in affecting job satisfaction. Although nurse leaders can provide nurses with resources and look into their welfare, the turnover rate continues to be a significant issue among nurses. Moreover, studies like Keogh et al. (2019, 35) show that nurse leaders can significantly reduce turnover and intentions to leave, but they do not provide a solution to the problem.

On the other hand, studies have shown that leadership styles impact nurse retention (Naseer et al., 2017, 1137). Leadership styles have become significant in the study of nurse retention issues due to leaders' ability to provide the necessary support (Naseer et al., 2017, 1133). Some of those leadership styles do not provide positive results in nurse retention while others lower intention to leave. The differences in the effect of nurse leadership style on staff retention reveal that some of those approaches miss the main point that could lead to reduced intentions to leave. Leaders empower followers to handle their daily duties efficiently and enjoy work while. One can conclude lacking empowerment factors in leadership styles which fails to reduced nurse intention to leave. However, previous studies concentrate on general nurse leadership and leadership models, therefore failing to single out the most important empowerment factors that lead to retention. There appears a gap in research to identify the specific nurse empowerment factors which can prevent intentions to leave regardless of the leadership style or nurses' ability to provide the necessary support. The proposed study seeks to determine the effect of nurse empowerment behaviors on intentions to leave among the staff.

Significance of the Research

The importance of the proposed research is that it will add to the body of knowledge on the factors which increase nurse retention and the direction of the relationship. The study will single out individual empowerment behaviors among leaders and report about their impact no intention to leave. Such factors are important to understand the process of nurses to leave their profession or work station. The results will also inform whether nurse leaders contribute to nurses’ intention to leave. Such information is essential to nurse leaders to prioritize self-assessment when investigating the rising cases of nurse turnover. Findings will also be significant to inform nurse leaders about the best behaviors they can exhibit to control the rising nursing turnover rate. Nurse managers can assess their behaviors to change or improve current practices to facilitate more nurse retention through the results. Nurse educators and education will also benefit from the study through information on qualities of a good nurse leader who can increase nurse retention. Findings will inform the needed empowerment from nurse leaders to inform educators on curriculum adjustment or pedagogy approaches that can impact such behaviors.

Literature Review

Studies show that work climate is one of the single most crucial factors that lead to nurse intention to leave the current organization (Sharififard et al., 2019, 460; Goh & Lopez, 2016, 900). Goh and Lopez (2016, 900) investigated the relationship between work environment, job satisfaction, and intention to leave, finding that the work environment was more significant. The study's findings indicated that nurses could leave their current potions due to a poor work environment even when job satisfaction was high (Goh & Lopez, 2016, 900). Some of the considered work environmental factors were friendly staff and support from the manager. Sharififard et al. (2019, 460) have similar findings indicating that nurses felt the pressure to leave the current facility due to high subordination and unfriendly atmospheres. Moreover, the study found that nurses could still leave due to unfavorable poor working environment even when the organization increased their salary. The trend from the two research which reports many, is that nurses look for a work environment that supports them to feel happy part from satisfaction. Most of the cited need to reduce intention to leave can only come from nurse managers, such as creating a friendly environment with high autonomy. Therefore, a friendly work environment can reduce nurses' intention to leave.

Nurse empowerment, on the other hand, improves the quality of care and productivity among nurses (Al-Dweik et al., 2016, 182; Sfantou et al., 2017, 72). According to Al-Dweik et al. (2016, 173), nurse empowerment leads to a feeling of high self-esteem and competence among nurses. The study which reviewed previous research on nurse empowerment found that empowered nurses also had high levels of expertise and knowledge utilization. Nurse empowerment involves supporting employees to function appropriately in their patient care roles (Radhakrishnan & Anuchithra, 2016, 318). Such provisions include motivation, resources, authority, and opportunity. The support impacts nurses’ ability to work as opposed to motivation that increases work engagement. Nurse ability to function appropriately is important due to the effect their work has on lives. Moreover, the ability of nurses to function appropriately in their work through support from their leaders leads to career growth as one of the significant need among professionals. Sfantou et al. (2017, 72) found that empowering leadership impacts well-coordinated care among nurses. The proper coordination results from the fact that nurses have enablers like information and motivation from their leaders with sufficient resources. As a result, the literature shows that nurse empowerment supports the use of expertise and knowledge to fulfil nurses’ goals and internal desires in the profession.

Studies also show that some of the significant factors that impact nurse retention are related to the manager’s support (Nowrouzi et al., 2016, 54). Nowrouzi et al. (2016, 54) examined factors that lead to nurse retention with findings showing elements such as northeastern Ontario lifestyle, working below 1 hour overtime every week, and staff development. Sojane et al. (2016, 8) had similar findings indicating that nurses could stay in a workplace that provided opportunities to grow compared to salary increments. Managers carriers of most of the support which nurses need to grow in their career and work effectively. Therefore, nurse leaders can provide internal motivation to nurses that impact meaning in their work.

Design

The study will use a cross-sectional survey design to investigate the impact of nurse empowerment on intentions to leave. A cross-sectional design involves measuring the exposure and outcomes as they occur naturally at the same time and point (Setia, 261, 261). The design is appropriate for the study because it provides primary data for comparison between nurse empowerment as the independent variable and intentions to leave as the dependent variable.

Setting and Population

This proposal suggests using registered nurses (RNs) from three large primary care hospitals. Primary care hospitals are an appropriate setting for the study due to nurses' diverse needs for empowerment. Nurses in hospitals have a high workload with an extensive need for collaboration and resources due to many patients. RNs, on the other hand, form the best population for the proposed research because of their direct involvement with patients raising their support needs. Therefore, the population is free from comorbid factors such as pressure from within for another career as opposed to work pressures and lack of management support in professional growth.

Sample and Sampling Technique

The research will use a total of 280 RNs sampled equally from the three hospitals. This proposal suggests using a stratified random sampling method to get participants from the population. A stratified random sampling allows stratification of the population in groups with similar characteristics to ensure representation of each. The method is appropriate for the study due to the chances of variations in the intentions to leave or stay with demographics characteristics such as age, gender, and level of knowledge.

Data Collection and Analysis

A questionnaire survey will be appropriate for collecting data on the intention to leave and empowerment support that nurses get from the manager. The survey will contain an open and closed-ended question. Questions on empowerment support will contain a Likert scale to assess the level of significance nurses hold for each based on their intentions to stay or leave. The study will, on the other hand, use content analysis and descriptive statistics to analyze the data.

Conclusion

Thus, participants will receive a consent letter to accept or reject their participation. The letter is important to avoid collecting data from unwilling participants, which violates their autonomy. All questionnaires will not have identifiable information such as the name of the [participants to ensure confidentiality and privacy. The researcher will further ensure the participants' confidentiality and privacy by keeping the surveys under tight security.