Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Feb;81(1):3-18.
doi: 10.1177/10775587231204105. Epub 2023 Oct 21.

Factors Associated With Intent to Leave the Profession for the Allied Health Workforce: A Rapid Review

Leonard Roth  1 , Clara Le Saux  1 , Ingrid Gilles  2 , Isabelle Peytremann-Bridevaux  1
Affiliations
Review

Factors Associated With Intent to Leave the Profession for the Allied Health Workforce: A Rapid Review

Leonard Roth et al. Med Care Res Rev. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Shortages of satisfied and well-trained health care professionals are an urgent threat for health systems worldwide. Although numerous studies have focused on retention issues for nurses and physicians, the situation for the allied health workforce remains understudied. We conducted a rapid review of the literature on allied health workers to investigate the main reasons for leaving their profession. 1,305 original research articles were retrieved from databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Epistemonikos, of which 29 were eligible for data extraction. Reviewed studies featured mainly pharmacists, psychologists, dietitians, physical therapists, emergency medical professionals, and occupational therapists. We categorized 17 typical factors of the intent to leave as organizational, psychological, team and management, and job characteristics. The relative importance of each factor was assessed by measuring its prevalence in the selected literature. By revealing common themes across allied health professions, our work suggests actionable insights to improve retention in these vital services.

Keywords: allied health workforce; health care professionals; intent to leave; intent to stay; rapid literature review; retention issues.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow Diagram for the Rapid Review.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
N = 29. The Frequency Represents How Often (in Percentage) Each Typical Factor Was Highlighted in the Selected Literature.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Hospital Association. (2022). Strengthening the health care workforce. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2022/09/Strengthening-the-He...
    1. AMN Healthcare. (2022). Survey of allied healthcare professional new graduate hiring patterns. https://www.amnhealthcare.com/amn-insights/allied/whitepapers/survey-of-...
    1. Aspden T. J., Silwal P. R., Marowa M., Ponton R. (2021). Why do pharmacists leave the profession? A mixed-method exploratory study. Pharmacy Practice, 19(2), 2332. 10.18549/PharmPract.2021.2.2332 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Babbar S., Adams D. R., Becker-Haimes E. M., Skriner L. C., Kratz H. E., Cliggitt L., Inacker P., Beidas R. S. (2018). Therapist turnover and client non-attendance. Children and Youth Services Review, 93, 12–16. 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.06.026 - DOI
    1. Boccio D. E., Weisz G., Lefkowitz R. (2016). Administrative pressure to practice unethically and burnout within the profession of school psychology. Psychology in the Schools, 53(6), 659–672. 10.1002/pits.21931 - DOI