Work Features that Influence the Retention of Professional Nurses in the Public Health Sector in Windhoek, Namibia (original) (raw)

2021, Africa Journal of Nursing and Midwifery

The retention of professional nurses in the public health sector is essential for maintaining quality nursing care. Effective retention strategies enhance nurses’ job satisfaction, promote professionalism, decrease organisational costs and improve patients’ care. The Namibian public health sector has, for a long time, experienced challenges in retaining professional nurses and this has affected patient care, students’ clinical practice and the facilities’ status. A qualitative descriptive design was used in this study to explore professional nurses’ perceptions of factors influencing the retention of professional nurses at a health facility in Windhoek, Namibia. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 11 professional nurses. Tesch’s eight steps for data analysis generated two themes, namely: 1) Satisfaction with remuneration varied; the work environment was non-conducive and management was inadequate; and 2) Dissatisfaction resulted from negative psychological e...