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The Cost of Failure

The failure to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of RNs is reflected in high-stress conditions for nurses and lowered quality of care for patients. It also creates significant costs for hospitals. Direct turnover costs are only the tip of the iceberg; the Nursing Executive Center stresses, in addition, the "hidden costs" of lost productivity for departing employees, new hires, and those who must take on more patients during the transition.4 All told, the annual national turnover of approximately 200,000 nurses costs the hospital industry a total of nearly $10 billion per year. This is the staggering cost of the hospital industry's failure to recruit and retain nurses. If the funds now spent fighting a losing battle to replace disheartened nurses were instead devoted to improving job conditions, it is possible that the nursing "shortage" could be largely solved and the nation's hospitals might still end up with significant savings.

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