Turnover rate falls for nurses

DAYTON (AP) — While hospitals around the country deal with a nursing shortage that promises to only get worse, the slowing economy in one part of Ohio has nurses putting off retirement and staying on the job.

Nurses whose families have been affected by layoffs in other Dayton-area industries are working more hours, while others delayed retirement once their 401(k) accounts fell along with the stock market, said Bill Linesch, vice president of human resources for Premier Health Partners.

Some nurses have recently re- entered the work force, he said.

At the Premier-run Miami Valley Hospital, the turnover rate for registered nurses has dropped to less than 1 percent from more than 10 percent just a few years ago. At The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, the rate was 5.2 percent in recent months, down from 6.8 percent about a year ago, said Renae Phillips, the center’s chief nurse executive.

Nationally, nursing schools have been unable to churn out graduates fast enough to keep up with the demand for nurses. The shortage could reach 500,000 by 2025, as many nurses retire and the demand for nurses balloons with the aging of baby boomers, according to Peter Buerhaus of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.