Retaining Professional Nurses in South Africa: Nurse Managers' Perspectives

ABSTRACT

South Africa is experiencing a serious shortage of nurses; which has to be addressed to prevent crises in health care services. Previous studies (Fletcher 2001324; Oosthuizen 2005117) found that nurses change their work environment due to dissatisfaction with their job situations. This implies that creating a favourable environment in the workplace situation could help retain professional nurses in their posts; implying that retention strategies should be effective. An exploratory; descriptive; contextual and qualitative design was used to describe nurse managers' views on factors which could influence professional nurse retention; as well as their views regarding attributes that were required to enable them to contribute towards enhancing professional nurse retention. A purposive sample of nurse managers employed in public and private hospitals in the Gauteng province was selected. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 nurse managers. The results were analysed qualitatively and contextualised within Vogt; Cox; Velthouse and Thames's Cork-Top (Bottleneck) Theory of Nurse Retention (1983) and Lewin's Force-Field Analysis Theory (1952). Factors pertaining to individual nurses; the organisation and nurse managers could influence the retention of professional nurses. Poor working conditions; long and inconvenient working hours; uncompetitive salaries and professional development of nurses have to be addressed to enhance professional nurses' retention. Unsafe working environments and a lack of resources threaten the safety and well-being of nurses and patients and contribute to high turnover rates. Nurse managers have to address shortcomings in their managerial and leadership skills and implement changes within a multigenerational nursing workforce and challenging working environments