TITLE:
Exploring Factors Influencing Recruitment and Retention of Nurses in Lagos State, Nigeria within Year 2008 and 2012
AUTHORS:
Modupe O. Oyetunde, Olabisi O. Ayeni
KEYWORDS:
Recruitment of Nurses, Retention of Nurses, Shortage of Nurses, Nursing Leadership, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.4 No.8,
July
22,
2014
ABSTRACT: Objective: To explore the factors
influencing recruitment and retention of nurses in Lagos State Hospitals.
Background: Despite the perceived efforts made by Hospitals Management in Lagos
State to recruit and retain nurses, there is still inadequate number of nurses
to match the demand of care needed by patients in the hospitals. Methods: The
descriptive study utilized mixed methods to gather data. It consisted of 330
consented and randomly selected nurses for the survey and 14 purposively
selected nurse leaders and Director for the interview. The instruments were
pretested questionnaire, semi-structured interview guide and existing records.
Result: The study revealed that all health institutions in Lagos State were
aware of the standard procedures of recruitment of nurses, but often engages in
replacement rather than proper recruitment. Most of the Nursing leadership
positions in Lagos State were vacant. More than half (68.2%) of the nurse
respondents were not sure if they would still be working in their health
institution in the next five years. It was revealed that the turnover rate of
nurses in the State Health institutions was higher than the Federal health
institutions in Nigeria. Conclusion: Increment in salary and
allowances rated the best influence on recruitment and retention of nurses in
Lagos State. Lack of nursing leadership; sense of job security and work
environment were the major factors influencing recruitment and retention of
nurses. There is need for adequate human resource planning; increased efforts
and formulation of policies that will improve recruitment and retention of
nurses in Lagos State of Nigeria.