Aging RNs ease into retirement
Retaining older nurses poses an ever greater challenge for hospitals, as a growing number retire or move into other work settings.
About one in four (23%) nurses who are 55 or older plan to retire, move to a non-nursing job or switch to part-time work in the near future, according to a recent national, email-based survey of registered nurses by the San Diego-based health care staffing firm, AMN Healthcare.
That represents more than 187,000 nurses, AMN Healthcare reported. Psychiatric and geriatric nurses were among those most likely to report they intend to retire soon.
Even more troubling, from an occupational health standpoint: About half of the nurses (51%) said they worry that their job is affecting their health. That sentiment has increased in each of the past four annual surveys.