Intention to leave among newly graduated nurses: A descriptive, multicenter study

To investigate newly graduated Chinese nurses' intention to leave their jobs and to explore the association of intention to leave with nurse characteristics, person-environment fit, and social support.

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Newly graduated nurses (N = 1,313) were recruited from 18 hospitals in six provinces in China, during 2018. An online questionnaire explored intention to leave and related factors, including proactive personality, personal-environment fit, and perceived social support. Chi-squared and multilevel logistic regression analysis were used to examine associations between factors.

Among 1,313 newly graduated nurses, 88 (6.7%) reported high-level intention to leave. Nurses working in specialty areas (i.e., outside of medical-surgical wards) and those with higher degree of person-organization fit showed lower intention to leave, whereas those with higher level of education, exposure to negative workplace/life events during the previous year and a proactive personality showed higher intention to leave.

Among newly graduated Chinese nurses, intention to leave is significant and is influenced by work area, level of education, negative workplace/life events and person-organization fit. The intention to leave is dynamically multifactorial and supportive strategies must be similarly multifaceted to effectively reduce turnover.

Little is known about the factors influencing the intention to leave among newly graduated nurses. We found significant intention to leave among new nurses which was negatively associated with work in a specialty area and degree of person-organization fit and positively associated with level of education, exposure to negative workplace/life events and proactive personality. This information adds to our understanding of nurse turnover and will support nurse administrators in the introduction of specific strategies to decrease turnover in this population.