A majority of nurses who left bedside roles in recent years are willing to return, with adequate staffing levels cited as the main factor that would reattract them, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.
The study, published Feb. 9 in JAMA Network Open, is based on survey data from more than 4,000 registered nurses who left a bedside hospital position between 2019 and 2023 and were not currently working in healthcare. Of this group, 56% were retired, 36% were unemployed and 8% said they were employed outside healthcare.
Among nurses who were unemployed, 51% said they had searched for healthcare jobs within the past year and reported being likely to return to nursing. Nurses employed outside healthcare were less likely to return, though 20% said they were very likely to do so.
Adequate staffing emerged as the top-selected response (65%) when nonretired RNs were asked what would increase their likelihood of returning to work as a bedside nurse. This was followed equally by flexible scheduling options and better wages or benefits (59%).
“Unsafe staffing drives nurses away from hospital employment — and adequate staffing is the key to bringing them back,” Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, lead author of the study and the Jessie M. Scott Term Chair in Nursing and Health Policy at Penn Nursing, said in a news release. “The problem and the solution are the same. High nurse turnover is a solvable crisis, because the reasons nurses leave are the same reasons they would return, if addressed.”
Among retired nurses, nearly 40% said they left earlier than planned, even as 90% reported being satisfied with nursing as a career. Researchers said the disconnect indicates premature workforce exits are largely driven by modifiable organizational factors, rather than dissatisfaction with the profession itself.
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