Hospital factors that predict intention of health care workers to leave their job during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose To identify factors responsible for hospital health care workers' intention to leave their job during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Design A cross‐sectional study was performed. Methods A self‐administered questionnaire was delivered to solicit hospital health care workers' demographics, intention to leave, workplace environment, and changes related to COVID‐19 from July to November 2020 in Taiwan. Principal component analysis was performed to compare group‐related factors. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the risk factors for the intention of health care workers to leave their job. Findings Among the 1209 health care workers (mean age, 36.3 years) who participated in the study, intention to leave the job was found to be related to factors relating to COVID‐19, including perceived risk, affected social relationships, and increased workload and job stress, after adjustment for demographic and work factors. Supportive administration/management were protective factors against leaving the job. These results were supported by sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the intention of health care workers to leave their job during a pandemic is related to potentially modifiable factors relating to the infection itself and work environment. Clinical relevance High perceived risk of COVID‐19, affected social relationaops, and increased workload and job stress were positively associated with the intention of health care workers to leave their job, whereas supportive administration and management were protective factors against leaving the job. Development of workplace strategies is important to help mitigate these above factors, improve psychological wellbeing, and promote workforce stability.

Determinants of intention to leave among nurses and physicians in a hospital setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Female participants had higher turnover intentions than their male colleagues [ 77 – 79 ]. Multiple studies described a significant association between turnover intention and age [ 79 – 83 ]. At the same time, younger nurses and physicians (<39 years old) [ 80 , 81 , 83 ] and aging workers showed higher intentions to leave [ 81 , 84 ].…”

“…Furthermore, turnover intention is predicted by job satisfaction [ 80 , 87 , 98 , 106 – 108 ]. Also, job stress or stressful work is positively correlated with turnover intention [ 83 , 103 , 106 , 109 – 111 ].…”

Passengers' self-protective intentions while using ride-hailing services during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In mainland China and Hong Kong during COVID-19, healthcare workers were found to have a higher perceived level of risk in terms of fear and susceptibility of COVID-19 due to the adverse consequences of insufficient physical protection (e.g., personal protective equipment provision, training on infection control) ( Lam et al, 2020 ). Since they did not feel sufficiently supported and protected in their work environments, they were likely to be depressed and leave their job ( Chen et al, 2022 ). Additionally, there has been a study examining the adoption of health prevention measures among Vietnamese delivery riders during the pandemic ( Tran et al, 2022 ).…”

Ethical work climate and the intention to leave the service in emergency medical technicians during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…EMTs experience increased levels of stress due to time constraints in performing tasks and skills as well as the critical patient conditions ( 4 ). Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has also put severe stress on health-care providers, and among them, EMTs on the front lines experience unprecedented stress ( 5 ). Stressors such as increased working hours, job insecurity, and fear of infecting and transmitting the virus to their families have caused about 40% of health-care providers to have anxiety symptoms ( 6 ).…”