Turnover of registered nurses in New South Wales hospitals

During 1988, a study of nursing staff turnover was undertaken for the NSW College of Nursing and the NSW Department of Health. The general aim of the study was to provide information about the annual rate of loss of registered nurses (RNs) from public hospitals and licensed private hospitals in NSW. A total of 362 hospitals were surveyed with the response rate being 75.4%. This paper gives background details about the study and the procedures used to determine nursing staff turnover, reports the major findings and makes suggestions for further investigations.