Factors Influencing Brain Drain among Nurses of Nepal

Abstract

Many talented and educated people like doctors, nurses and engineers are migrating from  Nepal to other developed countries. The mostly migrated countries include Australia, the  USA, Canada and UK. The objective of this study was to explore the factors influencing  brain drain among nurses. This study was carried out among 100 nurses from different  educational consultancies of Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts where the nurses had been  processing to go abroad. Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for study. Non probability convenience sampling technique was applied to select the sample. Semi- structured  self- administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was collected from 17^th September to October 16^th, 2014. Objective of the study was explained to different private  consultancies and informed written consent was taken from participants before data collection.  Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics. 

Study showed that40% of the participants were quite young 20-25 years of age. Similarly 58%  of the participants had been working under private institutions and 51% of the participants had  got 10,000 -20,000 (86.20$ -172.40$) Nepalese rupees salary per month in Nepal at present.  Canada (29%), UK (27%), USA (24%) and Australia (20%) were the preferred destination  country of brain drain. Prime push factors for brain drain were perceived lack of higher  education and training (43%), lack of support and encouragement from higher authorities  (42%) and increased work load (40%) respectively. Prime pull factors for brain drain were  high salary (74%), better career opportunity (39%) and better education for children (28%).  

The study concluded that financial incentives, career development and management issues are  core factors for motivating of nurses for brain drain. So, it would be recommended that the  government of Nepal must recognize the contribution of nurses to the health care system and  offer them standard salaries, benefits and career opportunities to prevent further migration of  nurses from Nepal in coming days.