Abstract:
Background: turnover intention has been defined as the individual's own estimated probability of permanently leaving the organization at some point in the near future. Actual Turnover is expected to increase as the intention increases. Employee turnover is a cause of concern for health care organizations as it bears implications on the quality of service provided to patients, increased costs in selection and recruitment, orientation and training. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the magnitude and associated factors of turnover intention among health professionals in south Gondar zone public health centers, North West Ethiopia. Methods: An institution based cross sectional study was carried out from February-April 2017, using structured pre tested self-administered questionnaire. multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants from six randomly selected districts among the 12 districts in the zone. Descriptive statistics were conducted to summarize the sample characteristics. logistic regression model was fitted and adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to identify associated factors. Results: A total of 755 respondents were involved with a response rate of 93.3%. Among them, 416 (55.1%) respondents had intention to leave the organization. The results showed that being unmarried [AOR=0.634(95% CI: 0.425-0.947)], having dependent family members [AOR=1.682(95% CI:1.114-2.539)], unsatisfied with professional opportunity [AOR= 2.260(95% CI:1.548-3.300], pay and benefits [AOR=2.085 (95% CI: 1.445-3.010)] low continuance commitment [AOR= 1.965(95% CI:1.196-3.228)] and low normative commitment [AOR= 1.882(95% CI:1.280-2.593)] were significantly associated with health professionals’ intention to leave the health center. Conclusion: The overall intention to leave among health professionals in South Gondar zone was high (55.1%). Individual factors, job satisfaction level and organizational commitment had statistically significant association with intention to leave. Thus, responsible bodies should strictly work on the concerns identified like, improvements in promotion in terms of training/educational opportunity and transfer of health professionals comparable to their contribution. Key words: turn over intention, health professionals, South Gondar zone.