Drivers to Stay or to Leave: Perceptions of the Nursing Work Environment Across Diverse Healthcare Sectors

Long-term care and home and community care sectors are not perceived as workplaces of choice for nurses.

To describe (1) what creates a desirable work environment in long-term care, home and community care, and hospital sectors for nurses; (2) what motivates nurses to work in these sectors; and (3) what influences nurses to leave these sectors when they do.

An open, cross-sectional online survey.

Registered Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses across Ontario were recruited broadly to rate 14 statements in a survey regarding their beliefs about three healthcare sectors (i.e., long-term care, home and community, and hospital sector) and 20 statements regarding their perceptions of motivation, and attrition-related factors, to work in these sectors.

Data from Registered Practical Nurses (N = 264) and Registered Nurses (N = 109) were analyzed (total N = 373, completion rate = 90.7%). Nurses report that they leave work in long-term care and/or home and community care because they are seeking better work-life balance, an increase in pay, and because they do not feel valued or appreciated by their employer. While nurses agree that their schooling has prepared them well to work in these sectors, they also agree that they would be more motivated to work within these sectors if they were able to determine their own availability.

Financial and nonfinancial influences were reported within the motivating and push factors for nurses to work in these sectors. The reported beliefs of nurses enforced the stigma attached to working as a nurse within these two sectors and provided novel insight into the system and organizational challenges for nurse workforce recruitment and retention.