Factors Affecting International Nurse Migration: A Systematic Review

This systematic review was planned to systematically examine the factors affecting international nurse migration. The study population consisted of 290 articles accessed by searching the cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature, PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus databases between January 2019 and April 2024. Articles that were published between specified dates, whose publication language was Turkish or English, whose sample was nurses, and whose full text could be accessed were selected for sampling. The date of access to the data study was May 20, 2024. Three studies included in the study were cross-sectional, three were qualitative, and two were mixed-method. Nurse migration is caused by opportunities abroad, where 23.82% of participants expressed interest; job insecurity and escape from unemployment affect 8.68% of participants; economic factors also play an important role and affect a total of 8.43% of participants; and career advancement expectations affect 6.31% of participants. Findings of the study, which focused only on nursing professionals, shed light on the important factors that drive migration decisions in this demographic group. Main factors are the search for better career opportunities, living standards, and efforts to reduce job insecurity and unemployment. Economic concerns and desire for career advancement also emerged as noteworthy motivations.

Keywords: Brain drain, nurse immigrant, nurse migration, pushing and pulling force.