Resilience, job satisfaction and anticipated turnover in nurse leaders

Aims The aim was to identify relationships between resilience, job satisfaction and anticipated turnover among nurse leaders. Background Despite the reported value of resilience, there is a lack of research on resilience in nurse leaders. This study examined how nurse leaders describe their resilience and the relationship it has with job satisfaction and anticipated turnover. Methods This quantitative study used a sample of 89 nurse leaders (bedside, department, division and organisational) from a multi-hospital health-care system in southwestern Virginia. Results There are significant relationships between resilience, job satisfaction and anticipated turnover. Additionally, it was found that the variables of job satisfaction and anticipated turnover significantly overlapped in their meaning and created a new construct of intent to remain (ITR) that has a statistically significant relationship with resilience. Implications for nursing management A stable nursing team has a positive impact on improving patient outcomes. To mitigate the impact of a nursing shortage, nurse leaders can enhance their own resilience and then recruit, hire and retain resilient staff nurses in an effort to improve nurses' ITR. Conclusion With higher resilience, nurse leaders are more likely to intend to remain in their leadership positions.