Factors associated with long-term retention among nurses in an intensive care unit

Objective. To identify which factors motivate nurses with more than 10 years' experience in the ICU of the Hospital General Universitario de Alicante to stay in the unit and to analyze the reasons for leaving in nurses who left this ICU after more than 10 years. Method. We performed a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study. Thirty-two nurses who had worked in the ICU for more than 10 years completed a written questionnaire. In the 18 nurses that had left the ICU, the reasons for leaving were determined. The results are expressed in relative frequencies and percentages. Results. Twenty nurses (62%) continued to work in the ICU because they liked the service and five (16%) because they had not been able to work in a position they liked more. Of the nurses who had left the ICU after 10 or more years, 67% had done so to work on a fixed shift. Conclusions. Most of the nurses who had worked for more than 10 years in the ICU stayed because they liked the service, while most of those who left did so to work fixed shifts.