Nurses\' Intention to Migration and its Relationship with Workload and Healthy Work Environment

Background: Nursing shortage is a global health problem and one of the main challenges for healthcare systems throughout the world including Iran. Meanwhile, a large number of Iranian nurses migrate to other countries every year. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of intention to immigration in Iranian nurses and its relationship with workload and a healthy work environment.  Methods: This study with a cross-sectional correlational design was conducted in 2020 using proportional stratified sampling of 360 nurses working in teaching hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS). The data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, Nurses’ Intention to Migrate Questionnaire, NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool (HWEAT) and were analyzed by SPSS-16 software using independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient at a significance level of (P<0.05). Results: The mean intention to immigration score was 65.59 ± 33.51. There was a weak significant positive correlation between intention to immigration and workload (r=0.166, p=0.002). There was also a weak significant inverse relationship between intention to immigration and healthy work environment (r=-0.160, p=0.002). Intention to immigration had a significant relationship with work experience (p=0.048) and employment status (p=0.001).  Conclusion:  Although the prevention of nurses' migration needs to be investigated in depth to determine the reasons, but according to the results of this study, providing a healthy work environment and maintaining the current workforce by providing the indicators desired by nurses may be to some extent prevent excessive migration of nurses.