At the Crossroads: The Unheard Voices of Contractual Nurses

Abstract

Contractualization of nurses is rampant in the Philippine public health system. With the current situation, the main concern of the nurse administrators is the retention of nurses in the workforce which is very critical for health system performance. This study explores the stories of contractual nurses who have worked and resigned in hospitals. The study adopted a longitudinal qualitative case study using interpretive narrative method. It utilized purposive sampling since it involved participants with experience regarding the phenomenon of interest. The data were analysed in two stages. Holistic-content method of life story and a thematic approach to narratives. The themes emerged include "More, More, More" means lack of financial support, Between "You and Me" connotes lack of healthy peer relationship, "Work, Work, Work" indicates stressful work demands, "Across the Green Pasteur" signifies better opportunities outside the hospital and "I Need You" entails no administrative attention. Among variety of reasons of resignation of the contractual nurses from their job mainly included economic, political, emotional/psychological and social factor that greatly affects the person as a whole. The results are beneficial to the hospital administration in addressing nurses' retention.