Aim. To explore factors influencing Turkish nurses’ intention to leave job, including nurse‐physician collaboration level, workplace’s environment issues, job satisfaction components, and the effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods. A cross‐sectional hospital‐based nursing study was conducted between 1 April and 1 May 2022. The data were gathered using a self‐administered questionnaire including sociodemographic variables, region of childhood, priorities on job expectations, self‐score of job satisfaction level (0–10 points), intention to leave scale score, and nurse‐physician collaboration scale score. The E‐PICOS statistic program was used for descriptive and correlation analyses exploring data. Results. A total of 325 nurses were enrolled with an average age of 29.71 ± 6.39 and work experience of 7.88 ± 7.15 years. Female (73.5%) and male (26.5%) nurses had similar levels of intention to leave (p = 0.078). The most frequent priorities on job expectations were high salary (40.3%) and well‐planned working hours (26.8%), respectively. Priority rate on job expectations about academic advancement opportunities was seen in 17.5% of all. Participating in joint doctor‐nurse visits more than nurse‐nurse working and work experience time significantly impacted satisfaction (p = 0.012; p = 0.027, respectively). Job satisfaction has a positive relationship with a high level of socioeconomic and physical environment in workplace’s environment characteristics (p = 0.035; r = 0.117) and a negative relationship with intention to leave the job (p < 0.001; r = −0.502). No correlation was found between an increased intention to leave and poorer collaboration between nurses and physicians (p = 0.370; r = −0.050). Despite the lack of significance, nurses who prioritize organizational culture and brand in their workplace expectations and who work in COVID‐19 areas reported higher job satisfaction than others (p = 0.133; p = 0.133, respectively). Furthermore, nurses who grew up in the Aegean Region, a highly developed part of the country, displayed the highest intention to leave and the lowest job satisfaction (p = 0.214, p = 0.359, respectively). Conclusions. Nurses’ intention to leave job negatively correlates with job satisfaction, regardless of level of nurse‐physician collaboration. Additionally, variations in the intention to leave based on regions of upbringing highlight the importance of human resources based on geographical and cultural development levels.