The Turnover Intention among Chinese Doctors: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The issue of doctor turnover is a significant challenge globally, especially in China's healthcare industry. High turnover intention not only hinders the sustainable development of healthcare but also affects the quality of patient treatment. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of influential factors of doctors' turnover intention in China, this study conducted a systematic review of research mainly in Web of Science and Scopus databases from 2014 to 2023. This study explored two main research objectives: to (1) identify the key factors influencing doctors' turnover intention in China and (2) categorize these factors according to their nature and impact. The findings reveal that the doctor turnover issue in China is a barrier to the sustainable development of the healthcare industry and the quality of patients' treatment. The influential factors of turnover intention could be categorized into five parts: personal, organizational, work-related, psychological, and environmental. This survey highlights the importance of the turnover issue and offers a deeper understanding of it. Additionally, the study provides practical implications for healthcare institutions, particularly for the human resource departments, and outlines directions for future research to improve turnover intention and its consequences.