What drives pharmacists' turnover intention: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Human Resource Management
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Pharmacist turnover negatively impacts efficiency, productivity, patient safety, and service quality.
• Turnover intention is a primary precursor to actual pharmacist turnover.
• Numerous organizational and job-related factors influence pharmacists' turnover intention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and identify factors associated with pharmacists' turnover intention.
• To explore the associations between various factors and turnover intention in all pharmacy settings.
• To develop a comprehensive model of pharmacist turnover intention.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of studies investigating factors affecting pharmacist turnover intention.
• Inclusion of studies from all pharmacy practice settings.
• Quality assessment of included studies using the QualSyst tool.

Main Results:

• Twenty studies were included from an initial 3,822, identifying thirty factors influencing turnover intention.
• Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, career commitment, job stress, perceived organizational support, and work climate were frequently identified drivers.
• Factors like job stress and work climate particularly affect hospital pharmacists, while career commitment and perceived support influence community pharmacists.

Conclusions:

• Factors driving pharmacist turnover intention differ across pharmacy practice settings.
• Tailored interventions are necessary to enhance pharmacist retention in specific environments.
• This review provides valuable insights for pharmacy human resource management and future research frameworks.