Learning Objective #1: Analyse organizational factors which influence staff retention

Learning Objective #2: Describe retention strategies that affect nursing in South Africa

---

Background: There are so many nurses who leaves the nursing profession to worj in other sectors and also those who leave thei countries , seeking greener pastures. There are many reasons which are cited by these nurses.

Aim: This paper explores whether the organizational factors contribute to staff retention.

Method : One hundred and eighty professional nurses who were working in public hospitals participated in a study , making a compliance rate of 75%. A cases study method using both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect data among professional nurses, chief professional nurses and union managers. Kanter's theory was used as a conceptual framework to look at the organizational factors that influence staff retention.The instruments used were the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire, Job Activities Scale, Organizational Relationship Scale and the Revised Nursing Work Index.The organizational factors that were analysed were access to support, information , opportunities and resources.

Results:Reliability of the instrument was at 0.800 Chronbach's Alpha. Nurses reported moderate access to organizational factors. Access to resources was a problem in all cases

Conclusion: Professional nurses who had access to organizational factors were happy to stay in their organization