Role of hospital management in curbing nurse attrition rate at a Public Hospital

Abstract

The retention of nurses in public hospital is vital to the operation of these hospitals as they are the first people that patients meet with when coming to the hospital. However, there are problems that have been documented which lead to nurses leaving the public hospitals to search for greener pastures mainly in the private sector hospitals. To add to what is known on the matter currently, the purpose of this study is to find out what challenges are facing management with regard to retaining nurses in public hospitals with the view of recommending initiatives that can be put in place to bring a solution to the problem of nurse attrition. Using a qualitative approach, nine respondents were purposefully selected for the study. They were interviewed for the purpose of obtaining their perceptions on the role of management of hospital in curbing the nurse attrition occurring in the hospital. Five of the participants were selected from the management team of the hospital and four from the nursing staff. Their perceptions were analysed inductively to allow codes to emerge from the study. The main findings of the study are that attrition and retention of nurses are driven by personal, organisational and market factors.