Association of perceived professional sense with career progression and turnover intention among temporarily employed nurses

Objective To explore correlations between perceived professional sense and career progression and turnover intention among nurses working in a hospital with short-term employment contract and to provide evidences for management and training of the nurses.Methods By convenient sampling, 733 temporarily employed nurses in a tertiary hospital were assessed with self-designed questionnaires about perceived professional sense, career progression and turnover intention between January to October 2015.Results Among the nurses, the average overall score for perceived professional sense was 6.49±1.25, with the domain scores of 3.15±0.92 and 3.27±0.85 for perceived opportunity and integration with colleagues;the average overall score for career progression was 11.78±2.03, with the domain scores of 2.40±0.53 for career goal, 1.94±0.47 for professional capability development, 1.67±0.32 for emotion engagement in work, 1.81±0.30 for title promotion, and 2.12±0.36 for income increase, respectively;the average overall score for turnover intention was 8.51±1.88, with the domain scores of 2.05±0.26 for satisfaction to work responsibility, 2.93±0.37 for organizational appreciation, and 3.19±0.68 for turnover.Correlation analyses indicated that both perceived professional opportunity and integration with colleagues were positively associated with career progression, capability development, emotion engagement in work, title promotion, and income increase(all P<0.05), but reversely related to work responsibility, organizational appreciation, and turnover intention (all P<0.05).Conclusion Perceived professional sense could promote career progression and attenuate turnover intention among temporarily employed nurses.