Abstract
BackgroundLong-term deficits in the nursing labor force and high turnover rates are common in the Taiwanese medical industry. Little research has investigated the psychological factors associated with the retention of nursing staff. However, in practice, religious hospitals often provide nursing staff with education in medicine or the medical humanities to enhance their psychological satisfaction. The objective of this study was to explore factors influencing nursing staff retention in their work in relation to different levels of needs. A further objective was to investigate whether medical humanities education was associated with the retention of nursing staff.MethodsThis study used self-administrated questionnaires to survey nurses working in northern areas of Taiwan. The questionnaire design was based on the six levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Participation was voluntary, and the participants signed informed consent documents. Self-administrated questionnaires were distributed to a total of 759 participants, and 729 questionnaires were returned (response rate 96.04%). Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of seniority on nurses’ reported intention to stay after adjustment for nurse characteristics (gender and age).ResultsIn the Pearson correlation analysis, nurses’ willingness to stay was moderately correlated with “physical needs”, “safety needs”, “love and belonging needs”, and “esteem needs” (r = 0.559, P < 0.001; r = 0.533, P < 0.001; r = 0.393, P < 0.001; and r = 0.476, P < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, nurses’ willingness to stay was highly correlated with “self-actualization needs”, “beyond self-actualization needs” and “medical humanities education-relevant needs” (r = 0.707, P < 0.001; r = 0.728, P < 0.001; and r = 0.678, P < 0.001, respectively). We found that the odds ratios (ORs) of retention of nursing staff with less than 1 year (OR = 4.511, P = 0.002) or 1–3 years (OR = 3.248, P = 0.003) of work experience were significantly higher than that of those with 5–10 years of work experience.ConclusionsWith regard to medical humanities education, we recommend adjusting training, as the compulsory activities included in the official programs are inadequate, and adjusting the number of required hours of medical humanities education. Tailoring different educational programs to different groups (especially nurses who have worked 3–5 years or 5–10 years in the case study hospital) might improve acceptance by nursing staff.
Highlights
Long-term deficits in the nursing labor force and high turnover rates are common in the Taiwanese medical industry
With regard to medical humanities education, we recommend adjusting training, as the compulsory activities included in the official programs are inadequate, and adjusting the number of required hours of medical humanities education
This study aimed to investigate whether medical humanities education was associated with the retention of nursing staff
Summary
Long-term deficits in the nursing labor force and high turnover rates are common in the Taiwanese medical industry. Little research has investigated the psychological factors associated with the retention of nursing staff. In practice, religious hospitals often provide nursing staff with education in medicine or the medical humanities to enhance their psychological satisfaction. A further objective was to investigate whether medical humanities education was associated with the retention of nursing staff. There is a deficit of nursing employees [1]. Previous research has shown a serious deficit of health care employees, especially doctors and nurses, in many countries worldwide [4,5,6]. The field of nursing is facing a growing deficit of employees in countries around the world, and Taiwan is no exception [7, 8]. Nurse turnover rates in Taiwan for 2009–2013 were 16.95, 17.12, 18.54, 19.03 and 16.45% [12]
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