The current situation of nursing staff and their turnover in township health centers / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

Objective:To describe the current situation in the nursing practice and their turnover intention in township health centers, and to analyze the changing potential influence in the nursing practice scope and workloads on their intention to leave those health centers. Methods:By means of a questionnaire, we conducted a survey on 167 nurses and interviewed 44 of them, all from 45 township hospitals within three provinces in China. Results:Since the healthcare system reform, the nursing workload in the township health centers significantly increased. 62% of the re-spondents considered their workload as heavy. Typically, the nursing work accounted for about 60% and the public health service work accounted for only 21% of the working hours. About 30% of the respondents were intended to leave their current job. The participating public health service was associated with intention to leave the job after con-trolling the province, workload, marital status, formal position, educational level and length of nursing service (P<0. 05). Conclusions:Since the healthcare system reform, the nursing practice scope in township health centers has been expanded and the workload increased considerably. But so far, expanding the scope of the nursing work may have potentials in reducing the intention of nurses to leave their current positions.