Turnover of health technical personnel in township health centers of Jiangxi province

Objective To examine the status and characteristics of turnover among health technical personnel in township health centers of Jiangxi province and to provide a basis for improving the turnover of the health technicians and optimizing health human resources in township hospitals.Methods We conducted a survey on the turnover of the health technicians in 1 593 township hospitals in Jiangxi province between 2012 and 2014.Descriptive analyses and test were used in data analysis.Results During the 3-year period,the total number of health technicians quitting from and being hired by the township health centers were 3 994 and 1 436,respectively.The turnover status of the health technicians differed statistically by gender (44.10% being male and 55.90% being female),age (23.70% aged ≤ 26 years,36.50% aged 26-35,27.10% aged 36-45,7.80% aged 46-55,and 4.90% aged >55),education background (0.10% with master degree,13.70% with university,47.30% with college,32.90% with technical secondary school,4.60% with the education equivalent to technical secondary school,and 1.60% without formal professional education),and professional title (1.70% with senior title,19.80% intermediate title,58.80% with primary title,and 19.70% with no professional title).The overall competency of the health technicians quitting from the township health centers was higher than those hired by the centers,while the health technicians hired by the township health centers were generally younger than those quitting from the centers.Main reasons for the health technicians quitting from the township health centers were career limitation (36.59%) and low salary (30.42%);while the majority of the health technicians hired by the health centers were through social recruitment (35.03%) and transferring from other institutions (24.79%).Conclusion The structure of health technicians is unreasonable and the technicians declines in numbers in township health centers in Jiangxi province;the condition needs to be concerned.