Factors that may influence South African nurses’ decisions to emigrate

M Oosthuizen,V J Ehlers

doi:10.4102/hsag.v12i2.246

Abstract

Although no accurate statistics about the number of South African nurses working in other countries are available, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development estimated that 35 000 South African nurses were working outside South Africa and/or outside the health care system (Horning, 2005:58).  Opsomming Alhoewel daar nie akkurate statistiek beskikbaar is oor die aantal Suid-Afrikaanse verpleegkundiges wat in ander lande werk nie, beraam die Organisasie vir Samewerking en Ontwikkeling dat 35 000 Suid-Afrikaanse verpleegkundiges buite Suid-Afrika en/of buite die gesondheidsorgsektor werk (Horning, 2005:58).  *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

Highlights

It is impossible to provide accurate statistics about the number of South African nurses working in other countries, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development estimated that in 2005 as many as 35 000 South African nurses were working outside South Africa and/or outside the health care system (Horning, 2005:58)
If this number of 35 000 is contrasted with the number of qualified nurses who became registered with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) during 2002, namely 3331, it becomes evident that almost 11 years’ worth of newly registered South African nurses were working in other countries or outside the health care system in 2005
85.7% were employed in the public sector where most South African nurses are trained

Summary

Introduction

It is impossible to provide accurate statistics about the number of South African nurses working in other countries, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development estimated that in 2005 as many as 35 000 South African nurses were working outside South Africa and/or outside the health care system (Horning, 2005:58). The recruitment of South African nurses is only one factor that contributes to their emigration Both internal factors (directly related to nursing and health care) and external factors (indirectly related to nursing and health care, such as political, economic or personal) may influence South African nurses’ decisions to emigrate. According to Maslow’s needs hierarchy once physiological needs become gratified, the safety or security needs become predominant

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