Strategies for reducing hospital nurse turnover in South Korea: Nurses' perceptions and suggestions

Abstract

Aim To explore the South Korean nurses' perspectives on the current hospital working conditions in order to identify causes of persistent high turnover rates among the nurses. Background High turnover rates of hospital nurses continue to pose a serious challenge to South Korean health care system despite the government's recent efforts to improve working conditions. Many studies in the past had examined factors related to the turnover and provided only a partial understanding of turnover predictors. However, nurses' perceptions on the current working conditions must be considered to explore possible causes of continued high turnover, to identify solutions and to improve working conditions by addressing nurses' concerns. Method This study is a qualitative study using focus group interviews with 33 nurses from 11 South Korean hospitals. Results Three main themes and eight subthemes related to reducing hospital nurse turnover were identified. Conclusions To address hospitals' nursing shortages in South Korea, it is important to address poor work environments. Implication for Nursing Management This study showed that more transformational policies should be developed and implemented to change working conditions by reducing excessive workloads and improve how nurses are treated and viewed so as to retain existing nurses and ease the nurse turnover rates.