Magnitude of turnover intention and associated factors among nurses working in emergency departments of governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional institutional based study

Abstract

Background Turnover intention is a probability of an employee to leave the current institution within a certain period due to various factors. It is the strongest predictor of actual turnover expected to increase as the intention increases. Emergency Department (ED) nurses are especially vulnerable to high turnover because of their increased risk of developing burnout and compassion fatigue associated with the work environment. This study is aimed to assess nurses’ intention to leave emergency departments and associated factors at selected governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted on 102 nurses in three selected governmental hospitals, Addis Ababa from February 19 to March 31, 2018, using a structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The logistic regression model was used and an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was calculated to identify associated factors. Result A total of 102 respondents were involved with a response rate of 91.1%. Among them, 79 (77.5%) respondents had the intention to leave the current working unit of the emergency department or hospital. Significant predictive factors of nurses’ intention to leave their institutions are educational status (adjusted odds ratio (OR) =4.700, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.033–50.772; p < 0.048), monthly income of less than 3145 Birr (adjusted OR = 6.05, 95% CI = 1.056–34.641; p < 0.043) and professional autonomy (adjusted OR = 0.191, 95% CI = 0.040–0.908; p < 0.037). Conclusion More than 77% of the respondents have the intention to leave their current working place of the emergency unit. Educational status, monthly income, and autonomy were significantly associated with emergency nurses’ turnover intention in three governmental hospitals. Emergency leaders and hospital managers should have made efforts to enhance nurses’ decision making for patient care activities and shared decision overwork or unit related activities.

Magnitude of job satisfaction and intention to leave their present job among nurses in selected federal hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…According to the results of this study, approximately 80.6% of the study population intended to leave their current job. This result is almost consistent with the findings of a study performed in a health institution in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia [ 20 ]. However, it is much higher than the finding of a study performed in a public health center in the Jimma Zone of southwestern Ethiopia, which found 63.7% intention to leave their current job among health care professionals.…”

“…Similar to this evidence, the results of this study also show that there is a strong relationship between intentions to leave one’s current job and a lack of personal development opportunities. This result is supported by numerous research findings [ 12 , 20 , 35 ].…”

“…The magnitude of intention to leave across African countries ranged from 18.8 to 41.4% [ 5 , 16 ], and in Ethiopia, it ranged between 50 and 83.7% [ 1 , 12 , 17 – 20 ]. While Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is home to 12% of the global population, it only employs 3.5% of the global health workforce, which is disproportionate to 27% of the global burden of disease on the continent [ 21 ].…”

“…In general, work satisfaction comprises intrinsic and extrinsic factors [ 9 ]. Intrinsic factors are internally derived and include personal achievement, sense of accomplishment, and prestige [ 20 , 23 ]. Extrinsic factors are those derived from factors related to pay and benefits, working conditions, and resources [ 9 , 15 , 24 ].…”

The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic on Nurses’ Turnover Intention: An Integrative Review

“…On the other hand, nurses’ organizational turnover intention was measured in 29 pre-COVID-19 studies, and the rates ranged from 94% [ 29 ] to 14.06% [ 43 ]. The mean nurses’ turnover intention pre-COVID-19 ranged from 1.88 [ 40 ] to 3.70 [ 45 ].…”