Palliative care nurses' views on their retention intention: a qualitative study

Palliative care is in short supply worldwide, and nurses are core members of its implementation. However, there is currently a severe shortage of palliative care nurses. Therefore, enhancing their retention intention and attracting more nurses to join this field is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

This research is based on the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R). In the qualitative research, the phenomenological research method was adopted,And a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the data. Each interview lasts for approximately 20 to 52 min. The data is analyzed using the thematic analysis method.

This study involved 15 participants. In the area of retention intention, we have identified an excessively high level of job demands (continuous exposure to death and near-death experiences, High-intensity emotional labor, complex communication and ethical dilemmas, as well as intense physical labor) are the obstructive factors affecting retention intention.However, sufficient work resources (team support and cohesion, organizational support and recognition, sense of job value, and a humanized and supportive environment) and personal resources (sense of mission and altruistic values, psychological resilience and self-adjustment, reconstruction of the understanding of life and death, professional skill) are important factors in promoting the intention to remain in the job.

This study reveals that the Palliative care nurse retention intention in their positions is a complex phenomenon influenced by multiple factors. It emphasizes that managers should recognize the value of palliative care nurses' work, reduce their workload demands, optimize their job content, provide resources that can empower and motivate the nurses, and attach importance to the enhancement of the nurses' intrinsic personal resources.