Recently, the number of oriental medicine clinics and, thereby, oriental medicine nurses has increased as a result of aging society and growing prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases. However, many clinics have problem with retaining nurses and lack of professional workforce. The purpose of this study is to examine correlation of knowledge in oriental nursing, work performance, and role conflict of oriental medicine nurses with retention intention and, based on the result, improve job satisfaction and retention intention of the nurses.

In this study, a survey was conducted target nurses who work at oriental medicine clinics in Seoul and Gyeonggido. The data was collected between January 15, 2016 and March 18, 2016, and, of 160 copies, a total of 152 valid copies were used for the final analysis based on SPSS WIN 21.0.

Findings of this research are as follow.

1) The average retention intention of the subjects was 5.23±1.60(8-point scale), which was higher than the median value. The oriental nursing knowledge was 2.99±.64 (5-point scale) and work performance 3.31±.50 (5-point scale). The role conflict was 3.70±.55 (5-point scale).

2) Regarding the difference in retention intention according to general characteristics and characteristics related to oriental medicine, retention intention was significantly higher in older subjects (F=5.78, p=.001), and subjects with higher positions (F=4.09, p=.019), longer work experience (F=5.98, p=.003), and longer experience in oriental medicine (F=5.93, p=.003).

Regarding oriental medicine education, the group who received education or attended seminars for 81 hours or more while working for a clinic showed higher retention intention than the group who did not (F=6.31, p<.001), and the group who obtained knowledge in oriental medicine from the doctors, self-teaching, or professional education, than the group who did not (F=4.93, p<.001).

3) In the analysis of correlation among the retention of subjects with oriental nursing knowledge, work performance, and role conflict, retention intention had a positive correlation with oriental nursing knowledge (r=.43, p<.001), and negative correlation with role conflict (r=-.16, p=.023).

4) The factor that showed the strongest effect on retention intention of oriental medicine nurses was oriental nursing knowledge (β=0.36), followed by age (β=0.25) and role conflict (β=-0.16) in the order, and these factors explained 23% of retention intention (F=9.81, p <.001).

The findings suggest, in order to increase retention intention of oriental medicine nurses, it is necessary to develop and offer education programs for oriental nursing. Also, in order to reduce role conflict caused by ambiguous role division, it is important to specify the role of oriental medicine nurses and provide appropriate education related to oriental medicine. However, judgment is required when generalizing findings of this study as it is based on a survey conducted with nurses working at oriental medicine clinics in Seoul and Gyeonggido with specialists designated by Ministry of Health and Welfare. Also, future research will need to diversify regions and sampling methods and investigate factors that influence retention intention of oriental medicine nurses through a replication study.
However, despite such limitations, this study is significant in that it analyzed factors that influence retention intention of oriental medicine nurses and verified their effects. Also, as oriental nursing knowledge was found to be the most important factor, relevant education and programs will need to be developed.