Factors Influencing Brain Drain among Nepalese Nurses

Background Brain drain means migration of technically skilled people from one country to another country. Migration of health workers including nurses are the result of interplay of many push and pull factors. Push factors are those conditions that influence the nurses' decision to leave their own country. Conversely, pull factors are those conditions in a given country that attract nurses, influencing their movement to that country. Objective The objective of this study was to identify push and pull factors of brain drain among the Nepalese nurses. Method Descriptive cross sectional study was done among 228 Nepalese nurses working in five different countries in 2016 by using quota sampling technique. A self administered questionnaire consisting of structured four-point Likert scale was designed to collect information on push and pull factors of brain drain. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using SPSS version 16. Result Many of brain drained nurses had ranked very important push factor was personal ambition (72.8%) and very important pull factor was better job and career opportunity (77.2%). Majority of nurses working in Nepal had ranked very important push factor was lack of job and career opportunity (86.0%) and pull factor was better job and career opportunity (85.1%). All push and pull factors were significantly associated with brain drain. Conclusion Most of the Nepalese nurses were forced to go abroad due to personal ambition, followed by low salary, and lack of job and career opportunity. Nurse migration out of Nepal is likely to persist and even increase if underlying factors aren't properly resolved.