Exit interviews to reduce turnover

Flint A, Webster J

Published Online:

January 19, 2011

In many healthcare organisations, exit interviews are conducted to try to understand why staff are leaving the facility. These interviews may be held before the individual leaves or after they have left the organisation; they may be face to face interviews or conducted by telephone. The main purpose of the exit interview is to reduce the number of people who leave, by fixing problems that may be identified during the exit interview process. This review sought to determine if the exit interview was useful in achieving this purpose. However, after a wide search, no studies answering the question were found. Further research in this area is needed.

Abstract (click to read)

Background:

Exit interviews are widely used in healthcare organisations to identify reasons for staff attrition, yet their usefulness in limiting turnover is unclear.

Objectives:

To determine the effectiveness of various exit interview strategies in decreasing turnover rates amongst healthcare professionals.

Search strategy:

We used a comprehensive search strategy including an electronic search of the following databases: DARE, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC (search date: 7 September 2010) and EPOC Specialised Register (search date: 30 September 2009). We also screened the reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews.

Selection criteria:

Randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before and after studies and interrupted time series studies comparing turnover rates between healthcare professionals who had undergone one form of exit interview with another form of exit interview or with no interview.

Data collection and analysis:

Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data.

Main results:

The search identified 1560 citations of which we considered 19 potentially relevant. The two authors independently reviewed the abstracts of these studies and retrieved the full texts of eight studies. We excluded all eight following independent assessment. They were either interviews, commentaries on how to do an exit interview or descriptive studies about reasons for leaving. We found no trials that matched our inclusion criteria.

Authors' conclusions:

Evidence about the effectiveness of exit interviews to reduce turnover is currently not available. However, exit interviews may provide useful information about the work environment which, in turn, may be useful in the development of interventions to reduce turnover.

This record should be cited as:

Flint A, Webster J. The use of the exit interview to reduce turnover amongst healthcare professionals. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006620. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006620.pub2

Assessed as up to date:

September 6, 2010

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Primary Review Group:

Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group

Health topics:

Effective practice/health systems > Reviews of specific types of interventions > Organizational interventions

Cochrane Summaries^beta

Independent high-quality evidence for health care decision making

Exit interviews to reduce turnover

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