Predicting departure of baccalaureate prepared graduate nurses participating in a twelve month nurse residency program

The pervasive nursing shortage and the rate of job turnover among graduate nurses (GNs) served to guide the research question which examined whether the variables job satisfaction, autonomy, critical thinking, age, ethnicity and unit of employment were predictors of the departure or retention of baccalaureate prepared graduate nurse residency participants . Distinguishing between the GNs, who remains, from those, that depart aids in the understanding of the factors that affect a new nurse graduate 's transition into and continued employment within hospital. The study used a quantitative non-experimental research design employing secondary data analysis. Retrospective demographic data were collected from graduate nurses who had participated in the study hospital's nurse residency program from 2005-2009. Of 427 eligible participants 379 (88.75%) participated in completion of all four data elements, Mueller McCloskey Job Satisfaction Survey (MMSS), Gerber's Control Over Nursing Practice (CONP), University Health System Consortium's Critical Thinking Exam (UHC NRP) and a demographic data sheet. An adaptation of the Price Mueller Causal Model (PMCM) served as the theoretical underpinning for this study. The study is one of the first such studies that distinguish among those GNs who remain in nurse residency programs at academic medical centers. The results of the study indicate that satisfaction, age and autonomy predict those who leave and those who stay with 86.8% accuracy of which a 9% margin of difference between staying and leaving. The strongest influence appears to be job satisfaction. Ethnicity, unit of service, and critical. thinking did not contribute to the prediction. This study suggests that nurse administrators should implement multiple tactics to retain GNs that focus on job satisfaction and autonomy, and nurse educators should strengthen experiences that reflect realistic situations that may help soften the shock of the first year of employment.