Nurse turnover rate remains steady, but the urgency to address it has intensified.
According to NSI Nursing Solutions Inc.’s 2025 Retention & RN Staffing Report, staff RN turnover remains at 16.4%, with the average cost to replace a bedside nurse at $61,110. At the same time, findings from Press Ganey in Nurse Experience 2025 show that 17% of nurses left their roles last year, including 24% of Gen Z RNs.
The numbers are not shifting, but the drivers behind them are increasingly clear and, in many cases, fixable. Reducing administrative burden, stabilizing schedules, and involving nurses in decisions can improve retention by restoring time for patient care and rebuilding trust.
For Susan Grant, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Chief Clinical Officer at symplr, the path forward is operational.
The Hidden Cost of “Unnecessary Hard”
“We continue to see RN turnover hovering around 16–17%,” Grant said. The urgent issue is why nurses leave.
“Nurses do hard things every day. What wears people down is the unnecessarily hard things, and that is the friction that leadership can actually remove.”
That friction is most visible in how nurses spend their time.
“We underestimate how administrative time prevents nurses from making a difference for their patients,” she said. “Losing 90 minutes daily to non-care work can be demoralizing and exhausting.”
The result is not just fatigue. There is a growing gap between nurses’ intent and their daily reality.
When Workflows Get in the Way of Care
At the bedside, friction is built into processes.
“It’s the number of times a nurse has to stop mid-thought, leave the patient, track down information, log into another system, or enter the same thing twice because the tools don’t connect,” Grant said.
Experienced nurses develop workarounds. New nurses are forced to learn them.
“Nurses need interoperable platforms that cut duplicate data entry, automate scheduling and communication, and minimize systems to navigate.”
When those barriers are removed, the impact is immediate.
“If you fix something specific, like the way staffing requests get handled, or the way schedule changes are communicated, the unit feels the difference quickly,” she said. “It should translate into more time to be present with patients, because nursing is all about human connection.”
Burnout Starts With System Design
Many organizations invest in burnout initiatives, but Grant believes efforts must target root causes rather than focus solely on individual resilience.
“One place we still miss the mark is treating it as something an individual can solve on their own,” she said.
Instead, the issue is structural.
“Too often, we’re asking nurses to be endlessly adaptable inside systems that were not built with care delivery at the center.”
Even well-intended changes can compound the problem.
“Most additions start with good intent,” she said. “But nurses experience the exhausting pileup, not each change individually.”
For many, that accumulation becomes unsustainable.
“Nurses tell me they’re leaving because the environment prevents them from practicing as they were taught and as patients deserve.”
Technology That Reduces, Not Adds, Complexity
Technology can improve nurse retention only when it streamlines workflows and removes unnecessary tasks.
“The biggest gains come from removing tasks that don’t need a nurse’s judgment,” Grant said.
This covers administrative tasks, scheduling, and fragmented data workflows.
“When you create a single source of truth for operational data, and you automate routine steps, you take friction out of daily workflows and help ensure the right person is caring for the right patient at the right time.”
She also points to tools that better reflect the full scope of care.
“In one conversation, an example that stayed with me was ambient listening capturing a moment where a nurse paused and prayed with a patient before an unexpected trip back to the OR, and that spiritual need was documented without the nurse having to stop and type it all out,” she said. “AI did not create the compassion. It simply got out of the way so the nurse could be fully present.”
Closing the Trust Gap Around AI
As AI use grows, skepticism at the bedside rises.
“The trust gap is very real,” Grant said.
She insists nurses must be involved from the start.
“Nurses must be involved from the beginning, not after decisions are made.”
Clarity and accountability are essential.
“Nurses shouldn’t have to guess who owns a tool, what it’s being used for, or what happens when it gets something wrong. Spell it out up front.”
Equally important is responsiveness.
“You also need a simple way for nurses to say, ‘This is not working, and for leaders to respond quickly,” she said. “The fastest way to build confidence is to show that concerns are heard and adjustments happen.”
The 90-Day Fix: Stabilize Scheduling
Grant recommends targeting scheduling and staffing for immediate operational improvements.
Scheduling instability disrupts both care and recovery.
“When the schedule comes out late, when someone gets floated with little notice, when the plan changes mid-shift, and the unit is constantly trying to plug holes, nurses spend their energy just trying to hold it together instead of focusing on the patient in front of them.”
The effects extend beyond the shift.
“If you can’t count on what next week looks like, it’s hard to recover, it’s hard to plan your life, and eventually it’s hard to say yes again.”
Measure What Nurses Experience Now
Turnover alone does not tell the full story.
“Turnover is a rearview mirror metric. It tells you who you lost, after you’ve already lost them.”
To understand stability, leaders need earlier signals.
“For me, one of the clearest signals is time,” she said. “We know clinicians are losing close to 90 minutes a day to administrative work.”
She also points to schedule stability and respect for time.
“How often do nurses work short-staffed? How often are people floated with little notice? How often are nurses getting contacted on their day off?”
Another key measure is voice.
“Do nurses feel like they have a real say in decisions that shape their day, especially technology and workflow changes?”
Without it, frustration builds quietly until it leads to resignation.
A Simple Leadership Imperative
If given the attention of nurse leaders nationwide, Grant’s message is direct.
“I would urge nurse leaders to be present and listen,” she said. “Listening is not a soft skill. It is a safety practice, and it is also how you rebuild trust with your teams.”
Act by selecting one key barrier affecting nurses’ time and resolve it promptly.
“Pick one barrier that is stealing time from care, fix it, and circle back to the unit to close the loop,” she said. “Nurses do not need perfection. They need leaders who will stretch, reach out, and follow through.”
The Bottom Line
The nurse workforce issue is often called a pipeline problem, but data show a more immediate challenge.
Retention may depend less on long-term strategies and more on what happens during a single shift.
When nurses have time to care, predictable schedules, and a voice in how work is designed, the role becomes sustainable. When they do not, even committed clinicians begin to step away.
