Background—The nurse manager role is critical to staff nurse retention and often the portal to
senior nursing leadership, yet little is known about nurse managers' job satisfaction and career
plans. The purpose of this study was to describe nurse managers' job satisfaction and intent to
leave.
Methods—An electronic survey was used to collect data from 291 nurse managers working in
U.S. hospitals.
Findings—Seventy percent were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs and 68% were either
likely or very likely to recommend nursing management as a career choice. Seventy-two percent
of these nurse managers were also planning to leave their positions in the next five years. The four
most common reasons reported for intent to leave included burnout, career change, retirement, and
promotion. Burnout was the most common reason cited by the entire sample but the fourth most
common reason for leaving cited by those nurse managers who were planning to leave and also
satisfied or very satisfied with their positions.
Conclusions—Recommendations for nursing leaders include evaluating the workload of nurse
managers, providing career counseling, and developing succession plans. Additional research is
needed to understand the determinants and consequences of nurse manager job satisfaction, intent
to leave, and turnover
