Nearly one-quarter of registered nurses will seek a new place of employment as the economy recovers, according to survey results released Tuesday by AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS).

This year’s findings are up sharply from last year, when 15 percent of registered nurses said they would seek a new place of employment.

While 74 percent of respondents reported being satisfied with nursing in general, actual satisfaction with the role of registered nurse is 58 percent, down from 66 percent last year.

Thirty-two percent of nurses plan to retire or otherwise leave nursing or reduce the volume of clinical work they do in the next one to three years, up from the 26 percent who said they would take those steps in the 2010 survey.

Close to half (43 percent) said they either would not recommend nursing as a career to young people or were not sure they would, up significantly from the 36 percent who said that in 2010.

Forty-four percent said they would not select nursing as a career if they had it to do over or were unsure.

“Our survey clearly indicates a significant job satisfaction decline from 2010 to 2011 and that seems to be driving nurse's desire for change,” said Ralph Henderson, AMN Healthcare’s nursing and allied division president. “Nurses are at the core of quality care in our nation's delivery system. If nurses change jobs in large numbers — as they say they will in our survey — that may increase nurse vacancy, thus putting stress on staffing resources. That, in turn, would impact patient care outcomes.”