Abstract:
This research was a cross-sectional explanatory study with the main objective to survey the intentions of staying in the occupation of registered nurses at a community hospital in region 1: central, Thailand. The research tool was a questionnaire consisting of questions about intention to stay in the occupation, job satisfaction and personal characteristics totaling 53 items. The sample group comprised of registered nurses in a community hospital with one year of service. Random sampling used the proportional stratified random sampling method. In all, 436 questionnaires (90.83%) were used to analyze data. All data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearsons correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the intention to stay in occupation and overall job satisfaction was at a moderate level. Age and overall job satisfaction were positively associated with the intentions to stay in occupation at a very low level (r = 0.101 and 0.129 p-value <0.05). Satisfaction with pay, promotion and operating conditions could explain 12.6% of the variance in the intention to stay in occupation (R2Adjust = 0.126, p-value < 0.001). According to the results, administrators should provide remuneration appropriate to the workload. Professional growth opportunities should be promoted and analyses should be conducted to reduce nurses workload, thus increasing job satisfaction and retaining registered nurses in community hospitals in the nursing occupation longer.