A new research article titled “Retention of nurses in the Portuguese NHS: Organisational, career, and work-life balance factors shaping intention to stay”, authored by Mónica Morgado, André Beja, Rita Morais, and Tiago Correia, from the PPS-GHTM Research Group at the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, has recently been published in the European Journal of Public Health.
The article provides important new insights into the factors influencing nurses’ decisions to remain in their roles within the Serviço Nacional de Saúde, SNS (Portuguese National Health Service, NHS), contributing to ongoing national and European debates on health workforce sustainability.
Nurse Retention as a Critical Health System Challenge
Nurse retention represents a major challenge for health systems across Europe, with significant implications for workforce stability, quality of care, and health system resilience. In Portugal, despite persistent workforce shortages and increasing emigration of health professionals, empirical evidence on the determinants of nurse retention has remained limited.
To address this gap, the researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey with a representative sample of 1,494 nurses working in NHS settings. The study examined how organisational, career-related, and work–life balance factors shape nurses’ intention to stay in the Portuguese NHS.
Key Findings: Organisational and Career Factors Matter Most
The findings show that organisational factors play a central role in nurses’ decisions to remain in the Portuguese NHS. In particular, fixed and predictable work schedules, overall job satisfaction, and a healthy work–life balance emerged as the strongest predictors of intention to stay.
In addition, opportunities for career development were found to have a significant positive influence, highlighting the importance of clear, transparent, and attainable professional progression pathways within the public health system.
Although most respondents reported low satisfaction with salary levels and financial incentives, remuneration was not identified as a statistically significant predictor of intention to stay once other factors were taken into account.
Policy Implications for Workforce Sustainability
Overall, the results suggest that nurse retention strategies should prioritise improvements in working conditions, organisational support, and career structures, rather than focusing exclusively on financial incentives. These findings underline the need for integrated workforce policies that combine organisational reforms, career advancement opportunities, and work–life balance initiatives to support nurse retention in Portugal’s public health system.
The study provides timely and policy-relevant evidence for policymakers and health system managers seeking to strengthen workforce sustainability, and reinforces the value of profession-specific retention strategies tailored to nurses’ work realities.
Dissemination of Findings and Contribution to Policy Debate
The study’s findings were also presented at the IV International Convention of Nurses and the II Meeting of Nurse Managers, organised by the Ordem dos Enfermeiros (Portuguese Nursing Council). On this occasion, André Beja addressed the main conference audience, focusing on the challenges faced by health systems—and particularly the Portuguese NHS—in retaining and stabilising the nursing workforce.
The presentation emphasised the importance of public policies grounded in robust empirical evidence, a priority consistently highlighted by the World Health Organization. The session generated an active and insightful debate with participants, moderated by nurse Ricardo Correia de Matos, illustrating both the relevance of the topic and the need for continued research in this area.
Finally, André Beja highlighted that “this work builds on previous analyses of health professional satisfaction and retention conducted by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Workforce Planning and Policies at IHMT NOVA, developed for PLANAPP, reinforcing the cumulative, evidence-based, and policy-oriented nature of this research agenda”.
The full article can be accessed on the European Journal of Public Health website at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf232.