Nurse retention strategies: advice from experienced registered nurses

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore the insights of experienced nurses regarding initiatives they believe would effectively retain nurses like themselves in the nursing profession.Design/methodology/approach – As part of a qualitative investigation into the perceptions of nurses regarding issues affecting their profession, experienced nurses were asked to describe what retention strategies they would recommend to policy‐makers. A total of 16 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with long‐term nurses in a health region in western Canada.Findings – The paper found that seven retention strategies were commonly mentioned by the participants. The qualitative mode of inquiry allowed the nurses to convey the context, attitudes and feelings behind their recommendations.Research limitations/implications – The work environments and accompanying retention policies experienced by nurses vary widely according to the specific employment context. As is typical with qualitative research, the findings of...