Turnover and Job Satisfaction of Nursing Staff in two Hospitals

Introduction: The nursing shortage in Greece coupled with the increased demands for health care services and quality nursing care make imperative the exploration of nursing turnover and its predictors. Aim: Investigation of nursing turnover by identifying the intention of nurses to leave their place of work, the profession and clinical practice. Exploration of demographic factors and job satisfaction as predictors factors of nursing turnover. Method: A cross-sectional, correlation survey was conducted during August 2010 using self-administered questionnaires including the appropriate scales. The sample consisted of 405 nurses employed in clinical practice in one public and one military hospital (response rate 67.3%). Ethical issues of the study were addressed by the appropriate hospital committees. Pearson’s r και Spearman’s rho statistical tests were used to examine correlations between variables as appropriate. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the significance of predicting variables. Results: The study showed that there was nursing intention to leave the place of employment ( X =2.5), the profession ( X =7) and clinical practice ( X =8.3), which was related to certain demographic variables. A significant negative relationship was found between job satisfaction and intention to leave the place of employment (r=-0.15; p<0.005), the profession (r=-0.43; p<0.0001) and clinical practice (r=-0.36; p<0.0001). Satisfaction and the type of hospital (military or public) were the most significant predictors of nurses’ intention to leave the profession (β=-0.50 and β=-1.29; p<0.001) and clinical practice (β=-0.45 and β=-1.66; p<0.001), taking into consideration the potential bias of other variables. Conclusions: The findings of this study on nursing turnover in Greece are in line with international research. Regardless of the duration of employment and the type of health system, job satisfaction is the crucial factor which affects nursing turnover. It is necessary, therefore to take measures, both policy-based and organizational, and to adequately formulate the appropriate working conditions for increasing nurses’ satisfaction in order to encourage nursing staff to stay in clinical practice, in the specific position and in the profession, providing safe and quality health care with decreased cost.