[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.


METHODS
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.
Navarro-Arnedo
Jesús M
JM
Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, España. Navarro_jes@gva.es
Perales-Pastor
Rosario
R
Gómez-Calcerrada-Pérez
Pablo
P
Alba-Muela
María del Mar
Mdel M
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce