Effects of Hospital Characteristics on Employment Rate, Working Period and Retirement of Ward Nurses in Korea: A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on HIRAS Data

Retention Rates and the Associated Risk Factors of Turnover among Newly Hired Nurses at South Korean Hospitals: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…In the present study, the bed-to-nurse ratio consistently appeared to be a risk factor for turnover across all retention periods grouped into 6-month intervals. This aligns with the results of earlier studies in Korea [ 12 , 22 ]. Hospitals with a bed-to-nurse ratio of 3.5 or higher are technically in violation of the 5-to-2 patient-to-nurse ratio stipulated by Korean medical law [ 29 ], which means that 38.5% of the hospitals in this study did not comply with the minimum legal staffing requirement.…”

“…Independent variables were decided separately at both the organizational level and the individual level, based on an earlier study [ 14 ]. The organizational variables of hospitals that were selected were hospital location, hospital ownership, bed-to-nurse ratio, and standardized monthly income [ 12 , 17 , 21 , 22 ], whereas gender and age were selected to be the individual variables of nurses [ 12 , 22 ]. Sub-variables for hospital location were Seoul, metropolitan cities, and medium-sized and small cities, and the sub-variables for hospital ownership were public sector, educational foundation, medical or other corporation, and for-profit medical institutions.…”

Factors Influencing Occupational Retention of Nurses in Their 20s and 30s

“…Environmental changes require specialized nursing care, which certainly demands a stable supply and retention of nursing personnel. However, the working environment for nurses in South Korea, entailing long work hours without paid overtime and a hierarchical organizational culture, has resulted in high turnover and resignation rates amongst nurses (Seo et al, 2020).…”

“…High turnover or resignation rates among nurses in their 20s and 30s in South Korea negatively affect the stable supply of nursing staff, quality of nursing care, and patients' satisfaction with nursing care, which may lower the long-term occupational value of nursing (Seo et al, 2020). Therefore, increasing nurses' occupational retention rate will positively influence nurses and patients and the medical environment.…”

“…Therefore, increasing nurses’ occupational retention rate will positively influence nurses and patients and the medical environment. Previous research on nurse turnover in South Korea lacked studies that included the overall working environment characteristics and various individual characteristics of nurses (Lee & Kang, 2018; Seo et al, 2020). In addition, there are few studies that have confirmed the influencing factors targeting nurses in their 20s and 30s who have the highest turnover rate.…”