Abstract:
Background: Inadequate human resources are a major constraint to improving global health.
In 2010, there was an estimated shortage of at least one million frontline health workers in the
developing world. Globally, there are 61 countries with a critical shortage of healthcare
workers, and 41 of them are in Africa. Similarly, Ethiopia, as any other sub Saharan African
countries, is facing the challenges of shortage of skilled human resource, the health sector is
characterized by a high turnover coupled with internal as well as external brain drain but there
is little information on intention to leave among health professionals in public health centers
Objective: The aim of this study is to assess intention to leave and associated factors among
health professionals in public health centers in Jimma Zone, southwest Ethiopia
Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative study was conducted on seven
randomly selected districts (woreda) which has 53 public health centers. All health
professionals in sampled district public health centers were included (n=505). Factor analysis
was employed for all Likert scale instruments to extract factor(s) representing each of the
scales using SPSS version 16.0. Multiple Linear regressions were performed to check
association between independent and dependent variables. The qualitative semi-structured
interview was conducted and analyzed by thematic analysis methods. Before conducting any
study ethical clearance was obtained from Jimma University College of Public Health &
Medical Sciences and informed consent was obtained from each responsible body.
Results; Four hundred fifty five (90.1%) participated and out of this 290 (63.7%) had
intention to leave. Among variables job satisfaction (Beta=-0.298, (95%CI, -0.568 to -0.029),
working environment (Beta=-0.612, (95%CI, -0.955 to -0.270) and organizational
management (Beta=-0.552, (95%CI, 0.289 to 0.815) had statistically significant association
with intention to leave among health professionals in public health centers in Jimma Zone
Conclusions; the overall intention to leave among health professionals was high.
Job satisfaction, working environment, work pressure and organizational management had
statistically significantly associated and negatively affect intention to leave among health
professionals in public health centers in Jimma Zone.
