Meaningful recognition as a strategy to retain nurses

Editor's Note

This study, led by nurse researchers at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, finds that meaningful recognition (ie, thanking or acknowledging someone in a way that is valuable to them) can be a strategy to retain nurses, but one size does not fit all.

A survey of members of Sigma Theta Tau in the state of Maryland collected deidentified data from 163  respondents.

Meaningful recognition strategies that meant the most to nurses surveyed included:

• reasonable payment for service provided
• public recognition by their organization and profession
• opportunities for professional development.

However, the researchers note, trends in desired meaningful recognition varied across ethnicity, race, and gender. It is important that instruments be developed to capture the cultural and ethnic differences in relation to what the nursing workforce considers meaningful recognition, they say.