Factors associated with the nurses’ intent to stay in China, Japan, and Korea: an integrative review

Abstract

Abstract Objective Nurse's dimission and attrition are globally considered as a public health issue. However, few studies have focused on the nurse shortage from the perspective of intent to stay, as previous studies have focused only on why they left. The purpose of this study was to conduct an integrative review of the factors connected with why nurses in China, Japan, and Korea stay in their current workplace. Methods The review was done using three databases namely CNKI, Wanfang, and Web of science. The relevant studies published by Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans from 2010 were also included in this review. Literature screening and data extraction were performed by the two researchers, and the qualitative research methods were used for analysis. Results A total of 17 studies were analyzed in this review and of these two were qualitative and 15 were quantitative. Three themes and six sub-themes emerged from the synthesization of the data of 17 studies, which will help us to find the factors for nurses’ intent to stay. The three aspects such as professional characteristics, nurses’ individual characteristics, and organizational factors are the main contributing factors of nurses’ intent to stay. Conclusions This integrated review has thrown some important factors about nurses’ intent to stay. It is increasingly clear that when (1) nurses have a good professional status, (2) nurses could enjoy a good working relationship, (3) the workplace could meet the needs of personal development, and (4) nurses have good organizational support and excellent leaders, they are inclined to stay in their current jobs. Managers need to adopt targeted measures to improve nurses’ intent to stay and to provide a practical reference for health care institutions and managers in different countries and areas to increase the retention rate of nurses and to alleviate the current situation of nurse shortage.