Abstract
This article examines the results of a qualitative study designed to enhance your understanding of RNs' perceptions of the factors prompting them to leave employment in acute care settings. [Nurs Manage 2003:34(10):50-53]
For the past 2 decades, experts have extensively studied and documented nursing retention and turnover; yet turnover rates remain the same. In an attempt to delve deeper into the underlying problem and answer the questions of "how" and "why," researchers embarked on a new qualitative pilot study of nurses who voluntarily left employment in acute care facilities. Researchers sought to identify any disparity between what RNs gave employers as their reasons for leaving and what they would reveal to a neutral third party.