Introduction Addressing factors contributing to the attrition of nurse educators within the nursing education and training institutions is crucial because the problem affects the training of nurses globally. Public nursing education institutions in South Africa are missing nurse educators. That makes it difficult for the nation to improve healthcare outcomes. There are insufficient nurse educators at one nursing education institution because nurse educators quit within their first to fourth year of work. Purpose To explore factors contributing to the attrition of nurse educators in the Gauteng public nursing education institution. Methods A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design was employed to gather relevant information in support of the research objectives. Due to data saturation, an in-depth, unstructured one-on-one interview was conducted with fifteen out of twenty nurse educators. Participants were selected through a non-probability purposive sampling approach. The interviews were conducted in the participants’ work offices as per the participants’ agreement. Tesch's eight processes were used to analyse data. Ethical principles and trustworthiness were followed. Results Two themes were revealed: 1. Description of the contributory factors to attrition of nurse educators. Sub-themes: paradoxical experiences causing suffering, emotional suffering associated with support from management and colleagues, workload, and lack of recognition of nurse educators’ clinical experience and qualifications. 2. Description of on-the-job challenges by nurse educators. Sub-themes: poor interpersonal relationships, communication with other nurse educators, and shortage of human and material resources. Conclusion Based on the study findings, nurse educators’ attrition remains a global challenge. Factors contributing to the attrition of nurse educators relate to aspects that require policymakers at the national and institutional levels to revisit available structures that can help curb this problem and shape the future of nurse training.
Shirinda et al. (Thu,) studied this question.