Multilevel Determinants of Hospital Nurse Retention: Scholarly Synthesis and Research Gaps
Scholarly discourse underscores that hospital nurse retention operates as a multilevel construct shaped by the interplay between institutional working conditions and individual psychological resilience. Integrative assessments demonstrate that organizational determinants across leadership structures, peer support networks, and workload distribution directly govern workplace engagement and mitigate the risk of clinical burnout (Nurse Retention in Hospitals, 2026). These findings correspond with broad systematic syntheses establishing that supportive managerial practices and favorable practice environments serve as decisive buffers against staff turnover in hospital settings (The Race to Retain Healthcare Workers, 2023). Furthermore, comparative evidence across European healthcare institutions indicates that depersonalisation and diminished job satisfaction consistently intensify intentions to leave among clinical staff, reinforcing the necessity of holistic organizational interventions (Intention to Leave, Depersonalisation and Job Satisfaction, 2024). Despite these insights, a prominent research gap remains regarding the integration of macro-level health system policies with hospital-level administrative strategies, particularly within nuanced regional contexts such as Belgian acute care networks. Methodological limitations within current scholarship—most notably the reliance on cross-sectional designs, disparate measures of turnover intention, and the infrequent tracking of realized departures—further restrict the generalizability of causal mechanisms. Consequently, future research must bridge these conceptual and empirical boundaries to inform sustainable workforce policies.