Intention to Leave the Service in Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review Intention to Leave the Service in Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Leaving the profession, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has become one of the global challenges raised by healthcare service providers. This study aimed to review the tendency of nurses to leave their service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, all the studies conducted inside and outside the country during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2022 using the keywords of leaving the service of nurses, leaving the service in COVID, nursing in Covid, willingness to leave the service in Covid, the tendency to leave service, leaving the service of nurses in Covid, resignation from a nursing job, covid and leaving service, from the internal databases Google Scholar, Iranmedex, Magiran, Nindex, MediLib and Noor magazines and external databases WoS, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus. Were placed the articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected and finally analyzed more closely.

Results: In the extensive search for information, 127 articles were obtained, and 10 articles were finally selected and evaluated during the screening process and review of the inclusion criteria. The results of this review showed that fear of disease, not having enough immunity, having children, not being able to afford personal equipment, inappropriate salary and benefits compared to the difficulty of work, fear of transmitting infection to the family, lack of support from officials, working in the Covid department and the heavy workload during the Covid-19 era was cited as one of the most important reasons for leaving a job.

Conclusion: Choosing life solutions, financial and occupational safety, and more effective support of the authorities towards nurses are among the solutions that can help to continue the nursing profession, especially during crises like COVID-19.