Nurse turnover in the newborn intensive care unit

Nurse retention has become a significant issue in the newborn intensive care units for two main reasons: 1) the quality of care declines as it is delivered by inexperienced nurses, and 2) the cost of orienting new nurses is exorbitant. "Stress" has been implicated as one of the important factors in nurse retention; it appears that a paradox exists in that the stress/excitement that attracts a nurse to the newborn ICU in the first place may ultimately drive her away. We attempted to define stress factors in the Turner Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, and to develop management methods to decrease stress. Over a three-year period, during the implementing of new programs, nurse termination rates decreased significantly, as did turnover.