[Nihon koshu eisei zasshi] Japanese journal of public healthOct 6, 2011

Job retention and work environment of hospital nurses in Japan using the Japanese Practice Environment Scale

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗

Updated Mar 22, 2026

Abstract

A total of 1,067 full-time nurses responded, resulting in a turnover rate of 10.4% for nurses and 17.6% for newly hired nurses.

Significant correlations were found between the nursing practice environment, measured by the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), and job satisfaction.
A composite score of the PES-NWI and specific sub-scales, particularly 'Nurse Manager's Ability, Leadership, and Support of Nurses' and 'Staffing and Resource Adequacy,' were associated with nurses' intentions to remain at their workplace.
Reliability of the PES-NWI scale was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.75 for the composite and 0.77-0.85 for its sub-scales.
The findings suggest that a better nursing work environment may contribute to lower turnover rates among hospital nurses.

Simplified

The purpose of this study was to examine how the nursing practice environment affects job retention and the turnover rate among hospital nurses. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) was applied to investigate the nurse working environment from the viewpoint of hospital nurses in Japan. Methods A postal mail survey was conducted using the PES-NWI questionnaire targeting 2,211 nurses who were working at 91 wards in 5 hospitals situated in the Tokyo metropolitan area from February to March in 2008. In the questionnaire, hospital nurses were asked about characteristics such as sex, age and work experience as a nurse, whether they would work at the same hospital in the next year, the 31 items of the PES-NWI and job satisfaction. Nurse managers were asked to provide staff numbers to calculate the turnover rate of each ward. Logistic regression analyses were carried out, with "intention to retain or leave the workplace next year" as the dependent variable, with composite and 5 sub-scale scores of the PES-NWI and nurse characteristics as independent variables. Correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate the relationship between nurse turnover rates and nursing practice environments.

Job retention and work environment of hospital nurses in Japan using the Japanese Practice Environment Scale

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