The effect of work environment on intent to leave the nursing profession: a case study of bedside registered nurses in rural Florida.

The purpose of this research was to explore the effect work environment has on the intent to leave the profession for rural hospital bedside registered nurses (RNs). Subscales of autonomy, control over the practice setting, nurse-physician relationship and organizational support were incorporated into the analysis to determine which aspects of work environment directly affect the intent to leave the profession. An explanatory cross-sectional survey was distributed to 259 direct care bedside RNs employed at a rural system-affiliated hospital in Central Florida between February 2007 and June 2007. Anonymity was assured. A questionnaire containing demographic questions, the Nursing Work Index-Revised and Blau's intent to leave scale was distributed to all direct care nurses. A 32.8% response rate was achieved for a total of 85 complete and usable surveys. Data analysis shows that the work environment in general is negatively related to intent to leave. In addition, each of the four subscales was also negatively related to the intent to leave the profession. The results of this study support several recommendations for practice and education, including the promotion of professional practice environments, fostering inter-departmental relationships, and increasing the managerial training of RN managers.