Aims and objectives To investigate turnover intention among newly licensed registered nurses and to clarify the impact pathways of organisational justice, work engagement and nurses’ perception of care quality on turnover intention. Background Nurse shortage is an ongoing and urgent issue worldwide, in which nurse turnover could exacerbate the situation. Newly licensed registered nurses will become the main nursing workforce in the future; however, previous studies have not revealed the specific reasons underlying their turnover intentions. Design A descriptive cross‐sectional design. Methods A total of 569 newly licensed registered nurses undertaking direct care were recruited from thirteen hospitals from October to November 2018 across Beijing, China. Based on the job demands–resources model, we advanced a hypothetical model, linking the paths between organisational justice, work engagement, nurses’ perception of care quality and turnover intention. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the hypothetical model. The study adhered to the STROBE statement for observational studies. Results In total, 22.3% of newly licensed registered nurses had a high turnover intention. The final model had an acceptable fit and could explain 58% of the variance in turnover intention. The organisational justice was directly related to high work engagement, great nurses’ perception of care quality and low turnover intention. Additionally, organisational justice also had indirect effects on great nurses’ perception of care quality and low turnover intention, which were partially mediated by work engagement. However, the effect of nurses’ perception of care quality on turnover intention was not significant. Conclusion The improvement of organisational justice could enhance work engagement, and nurses’ perception of care quality, and reduce turnover intention, which is crucial to improving care quality and addressing the shortage of nurses. Relevance to clinical practice This study provides evidence for policymakers and hospital administrators to take targeted measures to enhance work engagement, foster high‐quality care and create better defences against losing nurses.

Ageing of the population and growth in the burden of noncommunicable disease, together with high turnover among registered nurses (RNs), have widened the gap between supply and demand (Marć et al., 2019;Wu et al., 2016). The shortage of RNs has seriously affected patient outcomes, especially in China. By the end of 2017, the number of RNs in China was about 3.8 million, or 2.74 RNs per 1,000 population (China Health Statistics Yearbook, 2018), which is much lower than the average of 9.2 RNs per 1,000 population in the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and lower than the proportion in all but one of those 35 countries (Amiri et al., 2020). Because the number of nurses to care for patients cannot easily be increased quickly to a sufficient level, researchers and managers may be able to improve patient care more readily by focusing on other factors related to patient outcomes, notably, work engagement.Recently work engagement among nurses has been paid much strategic attention because of its significant relationship to patient outcomes, nurse outcomes and organisational outcomes (Keyko et al., 2016). Work engagement is defined as 'a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication,

Nurses account for 59% of all health professionals worldwide and they play an important role in providing healthcare services (WHO, 2020). However, there is a vast worldwide shortage of nearly six million nurses (WHO, 2020). In addition to retaining existing nurses and accelerating the cultivation of new ones, it is vital to increase the work engagement of current nurses to reduce the problems caused by the nursing shortage. Work engagement is a positive, fulfilling mental state about performing one's work (Schaufeli & Bakker,

No abstract

Objective: Nurses' palliative care practice ability is the key to evaluating the quality of palliative care. This study aimed to identify the current situation of palliative care practices, competence and difficulties among nurses and determine whether difficulties play a mediating role between practices and competence.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. The online survey comprised demographics, the Palliative Care Self-Reported Practices Scale, the Palliative Care Nursing Self-competence Scale and the Palliative Care Difficulties Scale. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics, univariate analysis, linear regression and mediation analysis.Results: A total of 284 questionnaires were included for statistical analysis. The mean scores for practices, competence and difficulties were 67.81 (SD = 13.60), 124.28 (41.21) and 44.32 (12.68), respectively. There was a correlation between practices, competence and difficulties (p < 0.01). Competence and difficulties were independent predictors of practices (R 2 adj = 0.384, p < 0.001). Furthermore, difficulties mediated the relationship between practices and competence (b = 0.052, 95% confidence interval: 0.008-0.155).Conclusions: Continuous efforts should be made to enhance nurses' practices, competence and problem-solving abilities in palliative care. This study suggested further targeted education programmes, especially in special symptom management, interagency and multidisciplinary communication.