Hairr, Helen Salisbury, Mark Johannson, and Nancy Redfern-Vance examined the relationships between nurse staffing, job satisfaction, and nurse retention in an acute hospital environment. Three research questions were explored in this research - the relationship between nurse to patient ratio and job satisfaction, the relationship between job satisfaction and nurse retention, and address whether the economy is a factor in nurses remaining in their current positions despite the job …show more content…
Nurses have expressed job satisfaction in the past 6 months specifically related to the number of patients assigned. There was a 6% risk of death for patients when a shift with a nurse staffing shortage of just 8 hours occurred. The literature suggests nurse-patient ratios of 1:4 or less to provide the most optimal for patients (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski & Silber, 2002; Aiken, Clark, Sloane, Lake, & Cheney, 2005; Aiken et al., 2010; Needleman et al., 2011; Rosenberg, 2011). With appropriate patient assignment, improvements will be made in nurse job satisfaction, keeping them happy; nurse retention, not seconding their decision to stay or leave; the patient outcome, providing the best possible treatment; and a decrease in the high costs that would come to hire and train new nurses due to job dissatisfaction that leads to high nurse