Intensive care unit staff nurses: predicting factors for career decisions

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Psychology

Background:

• Nurse turnover is a significant concern for healthcare executives.
• Limited research exists on nurse intention to leave in Asian cultural contexts, specifically eastern Taiwan.
• Understanding factors influencing nurses' job departure is crucial for retention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors associated with intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' intention to leave their jobs in eastern Taiwan.
• To compare nurses intending to leave versus those intending to stay.
• To predict key factors influencing ICU nurses' intention to leave.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional predictive study conducted in 2005.
• 130 nurses from two ICUs in eastern Taiwan were recruited.
• A researcher-designed questionnaire and structured interviews, based on Cooper's model, were used, with data analyzed via multiple logistic regression.

Main Results:

• 48.9% of nurses intended to leave their jobs.
• Self-rated health, number of diseases, happiness, depression, job satisfaction, sleep quality, license type, and unit were significantly associated with intention to leave (p=0.05-0.001).
• Depression and poor sleep quality were the most significant predictors of intention to leave.

Conclusions:

• Improving nurses' health-related quality of life is essential.
• Developing effective strategies to enhance nurse retention in ICUs is necessary.
• Validated instruments can help identify predictors of job disengagement and inform retention strategies.