Nursing labor supply in Iran: a survey in Shiraz public hospitals in 2022

Ali Keshavarzi; Sajad Delavari; Farhad Lotfi; Zahra Goudarzi; Faezeh Bashiri; Mohsen Bayati

doi:10.1186/s12962-024-00542-3

Nursing labor supply in Iran: a survey in Shiraz public hospitals in 2022

Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2024 Apr 22;22(1):31. doi: 10.1186/s12962-024-00542-3.

Authors

Ali Keshavarzi¹, Sajad Delavari², Farhad Lotfi², Zahra Goudarzi², Faezeh Bashiri¹, Mohsen Bayati³

Affiliations

¹ Student Research Committee, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
² Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Almas Building, Alley 29, Qasrodasht Ave, Shiraz, 71336-54361, Iran.
³ Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Almas Building, Alley 29, Qasrodasht Ave, Shiraz, 71336-54361, Iran. bayatim66@gmail.com.

Abstract

Background: The labor supply of nurses, as one of the main healthcare workers, is an important issue in health human resources planning in all health systems. Finding the factors affecting it, could help policymakers to solve the shortage of nursing work supply. The present study aimed to investigating the quantity and factors affecting the nurses' labor supply in Iran.

Method: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 598 nurses working in public hospitals of Shiraz (Iran) were selected via proportionate stratified random sampling method. The required data was collected using a structured questionnaire which asked working hours and other related factors. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, univariate analysis and multivariate linear regression were performed using STATA 15. The multivariate labor supply model was estimated separately for married and single nurses. RESULTS: The average weekly working hours of nurses was 54.65 h in all medical centers and 50.28 h in the main hospital. The regression results showed that the labor supply of nurses with work experience (β = - 0.368, P = 0.014), satisfaction with work shift arrangement (β = - 2.473, P = 0.001), income between 60-89 million rial (β = - 14.046, P = 0.002), income between 90-119 million rial(β = - 12.073, P = 0.012), and working in the emergency department (β = - 5.043, P = 0.017) had negative and significant relationship; But there was a positive and significant relationship with satisfaction of the work environment (β = 1.86, P = 0.011), workload at work (β = 1.951, P = 0.023) and employment status (contractual employees) (β = 4.704, P = 0.004).

Conclusion: The labor supply function of nurses is affected by demographic, economic and non-economic factors. The most contributing factors were related to non-economic variables. It seems that the non-financial cost and benefits related to the job as well as internal factors have more important role on the nurses' labor supply.

Keywords: Factor determinants; Health manpower; Labor supply; Nursing; Shortage.