¶ … Tebeaux (2010) observes, is to provide a summary of the relevant research in a given area. This allows researchers to not only the ability to identify what gaps may exist in the scholarly literature on a given topic, but also how proposed research fits into or fills gaps in the reviewed literature. In an effort to support the need for the study, Hayhurst et al., (2005) provides a literature review that focuses on the positive and negative factors influencing nurse retention efforts. However, the literature review provided by Hayhurst et al., (2005) is marginal at best; it serves only to remind readers that nurses are not happy when job satisfaction is low, when management style and supervisory support are lacking, when work related pressures and personal or peer-conflict issues are present. In contrast, nurse retention, Hayhurst et al., (2005) notes, is correlated with higher favorable perceptions of the work environment. For example, when nurses feel they "belong" to the organization, or feel a strong sense of peer connection, they tend to remain on at their current jobs. Runy (2006) notes that older nurse retention is an imperative for health care organizations in an effort to curb relatively high turnover and attrition rates. While nurse retention and job satisfaction may be related and the need for the study existing, the Hayhurst et al., (2005) offers little to support the need for a study on factors associated with nurse retention efforts in conjunction with workplace conditions.

The literature review provided does little but to offer a tautology in nurse retention causes and cures. Further, the literature review seems to offer little in the way of substance; it only marginally addresses concerns related to job satisfaction, reasons for job dissatisfaction, and offers as evidence of the need for the study other data collected from prior survey administrations in other research studies. Erenstein and McCaffrey (2007) note that among the myriad reasons for the current nursing shortage in the United States...

McCauley (2005) further elaborates how lacking satisfaction of nursing practitioners in hospital settings can have important and deleterious consequences for hospital safety noting that significant evidence suggests unsupportive and un-nurturing environments can result in unhealthy medical care environments due to medical errors. AbuAlRub (2004) found that social support and peer approval were both highly correlated with job-related satisfaction markers in the nursing field. Further, upon administering a job-stress scale, AbuAlRub (2004) found that even slight indications of job stressors have significant negative consequences such as increased staff attrition and turnover rates, absenteeism, and an overall decline in the quality of care provided by all hospital staff. Unfortunately, the Hayhurst et al., (2005) study did not significantly detail either the positive and negative consequences of nurse related job dissatisfaction markers from the scholarly literature.
Sample and Setting

The Hayhurst et al., (2005) study utilized a convenience sample of volunteer research participants consisting of RN's working at one hospital setting in Northern California. While this sample population may be representative of the hospital location under investigation, as it purports to encompass nurses from "all shifts," and the return rate of the survey packets is reasonable, the sample chosen fails to account for nurses in other hospital settings, under other working conditions or special types of nurses, such as "staff development nurses" and "clinical nurse specialists" Hayhurst et al., (2005, pg. 284). Further, participation was based on volunteer nurse surveys rather than utilizing a random sampling technique; those that either did not volunteer, or did not return their surveys were not considered in the data analysis section of the Hayhurst et al. (2005) study.

How is the sample representative of the population?

The sample size is large enough to measure…