Turnover intention among healthcare workers in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To determine the pooled prevalence of turnover intention among healthcare workers in Ethiopia.

Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline.

Data sources: Electronic databases of Science Direct, Medline, African Journals Online, Excerpta Medica Database, Scopus and Google Scholar were searched to identify studies published in the English language before 31 December, 2021.

Eligibility criteria: Studies were included with following criteria: (1) studies conducted or published until 31 December 2021; (2) observational studies; (3) Studies conducted on healthcare workers; (4) reporting turnover intention; (v) studies conducted in Ethiopia and (vi) tudies published in the English language were included.

Data extraction and synthesis: Three independent reviewers screened all the papers for eligibility criteria. Data were extracted by two independent investigators using a standardised data extraction format. Random effects model meta-analysis using STATA V.14.0 statistical software was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence of turnover intention with 95% CI. Funnel plot and Forest plot were used to check publication bias and heterogeneity between studies, respectively. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was done.

Primary outcome: Prevalence of turnover intention.

Result: A total of 29 cross-sectional studies with 9422 participants met the inclusion criteria. The estimated pooled prevalence of turnover intention among healthcare workers in Ethiopia was 58.09% (95% CI 54.24 to 61.93; p value <0.001, I²=93.5%).

Conclusion: The finding of this systematic review and meta-analysis showed high prevalence of turnover intention among healthcare workers in Ethiopia. The Government and policy makers should come up with different mechanisms including a wide variety of healthcare workers retention strategies in order to reduce turnover intention of healthcare workers and retain them.

Keywords: HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION & MANAGEMENT; Human resource management; Organisation of health services.