Delving into the Engagement Dynamics of Present-day Healthcare Workforce

Press Ganey, the leader in experience measurement, analytics, and strategic advisory services for health systems and health plans, has officially published the results from its latest research report: “Nurse Experience 2025,” which took into account the opinion of more than 500,000 registered nurses and clinical staff from Press Ganey’s national Nursing Excellence benchmark.

Going by the available detail, the study in question treads up a long distance to identify rising expectations and shifting engagement patterns that threaten the stability of healthcare workforce. This translates to how, while overall turnover has shown signs of improvement, the study finds recent declines in engagement, particularly among advanced practice providers (APPs). The stated trend, like you can guess, indicates the risk of a potential backslide.

“Reliably safe, high-quality care begins with investing in the people who deliver it,” said Patrick T. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Press Ganey Forsta. “This research underscores the importance of segmenting your data to understand the diverse needs of today’s workforce. Engagement is declining—especially among Gen Z and Millennial nurses, who are calling for more flexibility. To build resilient, high-performing teams, we must listen deeply to what different groups are telling us and create environments where all nurses feel heard, supported, and empowered to speak up.”

Talk about the whole report on a slightly deeper level, we begin from the point covering cost of change. You see, year-on-year turnover has improved slightly, standing now at 18% for all healthcare workers and 17% among nurses. However, having said so, new declines in engagement suggest that progress may be short-lived.

All in all, Gen Z saw the highest turnover, with 24% of RNs leaving their organization last year.

Next up, Press Ganey’s effectively identified risky signs emerging from APPs. We get to say so because engagement scores declined slightly across most roles, but the engagement gap between senior leadership and APPs widened the most during 2024. From a statistical standpoint, 52% of APPs were found to believe that leadership is responsive to their feedback, whereas on the other hand, just 55% feel like they have a voice in decision-making.

Another detail worth a mention is rooted in how pride and teamwork were found to, by and large, fuel retention and safety, as the strongest predictor of retention for clinical RNs and APPs was whether they feel pride in the organization’s mission, care quality, and reputation.

On the flipside, RNs with negative perceptions of teamwork and resources were discovered to be 1.53x more likely to leave. As for teamwork, it was found to be impactful in the context of safety. In essence, units which reported strong teamwork would go on to show significantly better outcomes on nursing-sensitive quality indicators, such as falls and pressure injuries.

Rounding up highlights would be a piece of data claiming that responses to prevention and reporting questions are down. A more numerical lowdown of it revealed how 74% of employees said mistakes are treated as learning opportunities (down from 77%), thus signaling a breakdown of psychological safety.

Founded in 1985, Press Ganey’s rise up the ranks stems from collaborating with healthcare providers and health plans to improve the experiences of their patients, consumers, and workforce. This it does using a combination of technology, analytics, and expertise.

The company’s HX platform basically packs together disparate data to help clients collect, analyze, visualize, and act on key insights, all for the purpose of retaining talent, improving access to care, and ensuring the care journey is accessible, safe, equitable, and patient-centered. Press Ganey’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it is currently trusted by well over 41,000 healthcare provider organizations throughout the globe, as well as 85% of health plans in the United States.

“The best organizations create real change by supporting their people,” said Jeffrey N. Doucette, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN, Chief Nursing Officer at Press Ganey. “They’re developing nurse leaders, fostering inclusive cultures, and empowering front-line clinicians to shape the work environment. This is how we rebuild trust, retain talent, and protect the future of care.”

• By Editorial Panel
• 06 Apr 2025