Investigating the Effective Factors in Nurses’ Intention to Leave the Critical Care Unit

The intensive care unit is one of the most specialized hospital units that need nurses with a high level of skill and experience. The leave of experienced nurses from this unit reduces the quality of nursing care and imposes heavy costs on the health care system. This study aimed to investigate the reasons for nurses' intention to leave the ICU.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 247 nurses in the ICU affiliated with Zahedan, Tehran, and Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, from 2018 to 2021. Nurses were included in the study by Census sampling method based on inclusion criteria. They completed a four-part questionnaire including demographic variables, Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), intention to leave, and reasons for intention to leave the ICU. Data were analyzed with SPSS software using descriptive-analytic statistics, Chi-square, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.

Out of 247 nurses studied, 183 (74.1%) were female and 64 (25.9%) were male. The mean age of participants was 32.47± 6.68 years. The mean score of job satisfaction was 115.45±58.20 and the mean score of intention to leave was 15.98±3.76. The mean score of the three areas of reasons for intention to leave had a negative correlation with job satisfaction and a positive correlation with the intention to leave the ICU, which was statistically significant in all cases (p= 0/001). The mismatch between the workload and legal benefits, shortage of nurses, forced overtime, the disproportion of nurse-patient ratio, and lack of welfare facilities had the greatest effect on nurses' intention to leave the ICU.

The results of the study showed that the most common reasons for the increase the intention to leave of nurses are related to the mismanagement of nursing managers and authorities of ICU. Therefore, reforming old management styles, observing justice among employees, involving nurses in decisions and the process of patient's treatment are among the things that can increase nurses' self-esteem, job satisfaction and reduce the leave of ICU without providing additional funding for the organization.