FACTORS IMPACTING ON THE RETENTION OF NURSES IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES: A SCOPING REVIEW

Objective: This scoping review seeks to map the evidence concerning factors impacting on the retention of nurses in low- and middle-income countries, including best practices to enhance retention across various nations. Introduction: The retention of nurses within public healthcare facilities is a globally recognized challenge, influenced by a myriad of factors including work environment, remuneration, professional development opportunities, and overall job satisfaction. Across Namibia, however, the struggle to maintain and keep the nursing workforce in the public sector has been researched and proven to be a problem for many years with no significant solution. Methods: The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute framework for scoping reviews. A seven-step process will be followed. The title, review question and eligibility criteria were aligned using the Population, Concept and Context (PCC). Academic journal articles, and grey literature such as dissertations and theses, formal websites for WHO, MoHSS and ICN will be included. English full text published between 2014 to 2024 will be eligible. The search strategy, which was compiled in collaboration with the librarian at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, is comprehensive. A variety of databases were identified, together with data sources to locate grey literature. The Boolean search string was devised according to the PCC, linked with AND operators. Keywords are stated using truncation, and synonyms are separated by OR operators. Screening and selection of the identified records will take place on the Rayyan data management system. A data extraction form was compiled and will be piloted with research supervisors. Captured information will be exported to an Excel spreadsheet to organise the data for a descriptive analysis. Results will be presented through descriptive statistics.