Characteristics associated with intent to stay among Quality Improvement nurses

The study aims to investigate characteristics associated with intent to stay among Quality Improvement (QI) nurses in Korean hospitals.

QI nurses have recently emerged as a new specialty area in the nursing profession in Korea. They have played a major role in coordinating and facilitating hospital-wide QI activities. However, their frequent turnover degrades the continuity of overall QI programmes and incurs additional costs in human resource management.

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was administered to 123 QI nurses in 123 general hospitals. The collected data included their hospital and department characteristics, work demand, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and demographics. The response rate was 94.3% (n=116). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with intent to stay.

Only 32.8% intended to stay in their current job. Significant factors associated with intent to stay were affective commitment and work demands. QI nurses with a higher level of affective commitment were more likely to stay [odds ratios (OR)=2.50], whereas those with higher quantitative work demands in QI education and support were less likely to stay (OR=0.40).

The findings indicated that intent to stay was closely associated with work environment characteristics. Efforts to enhance their affective commitment and support their workload management are needed to increase the retention of qualified and experienced QI nurses.