Worldwide prevalence and associated factors of nursing staff turnover: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Abstract Aims To systematically assess the worldwide prevalence of nurse turnover and discuss its influencing factors. Design Systematic review and meta‐analysis. Methods PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Wanfang Database were searched from their commencement date to 25 March 2021. Two authors independently reviewed the studies. Stata 15.0 software package was used for statistical analysis, with estimates of data on the prevalence of nurse turnover using a random‐effects model. This review was performed according to the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) manual for evidence synthesis and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) Statement. PROSPERO Registration Number:CRD42020208873. Results A total of 15 studies covering 852,317 nurses were included in the analyses. The pooled prevalence of nurse turnover was 18% (95% CI: 11% to 26%, I2 = 99.86%, p < 0.0001). Geographic regions (Asia), published years (2001 to 2010) and respondents (new nurses) were significantly associated with the prevalence of nurse turnover. Additionally, several risk factors for turnover were identified in the literature, involving demographic factors (young, single, have short working hours, lower level of education and male nurses), organizational factors (small‐scale hospitals, low salary levels, larger workload, developed region and absence of labour union), satisfaction (dissatisfaction with organization, profession, job and competence).

Keywords

• factors
• meta‐analysis
• nurses
• prevalence
• systematic review
• turnover