Factors contributing to attrition of nurse educators at a Gauteng Public Nursing Education Institution

Abstract

The attrition of nurse educators at South Africa’s public nursing education institutions undermines the ability of the country to improve health care outcomes. There is attrition of nurse educators at the selected public nursing education institution in the Gauteng Province. Nurse educators leave the institution within two years of employment and this study explored factors that contribute to this attrition. The study was conducted using an explorative descriptive research design and the study population were all the nurse educators employed at the college. In this qualitative research, a purposive non-probability sampling was used to explore factors contributing to attrition at the public nursing education institution. The target population were all nurse educators employed between January 2014 and April 2019. The sample was drawn from 15 to 25 nurse educators employed by the public nursing education institution from January 2014 to April 2019 who have since resigned. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview to explore and describe the factors that contribute to attrition of nurse educators. Pre-test was conducted using 3 participants who were from the population of nurse educators employed at the selected public nursing education institution from January 2014 to April 2019 who have since resigned. Interviews were conducted at the participants’ workplace in their offices to promote confidentiality and privacy. The eight steps of Tesch’s method (1995) were used to analyse data. Trustworthiness was determined by adhering to the principle of credibility, dependability, transferability, and conformability. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Venda’s Research Ethics Committee. Permission to conduct the study was sought from the principal of the selected public nursing education institution. The study findings indicated that there is attrition of nurse educators at the selected public nursing education institution. Factors contributing to attrition are lack of orientation, induction, and mentoring. Nurse educators said the working environment at the public nursing education institution is hostile. Other factors that mentioned as contributing to attrition are poor salaries, lack of support, poor interpersonal relationship, increased workload and lack of recognition of nurse educators’ previous clinical experience, level of education and specialities. Thus, the study recommends that the national department of health should review and revise the employment policy of nurse educators and improve salaries and benefits to attract and retain nurse educators.