Why do China-educated nurses emigrate? A qualitative exploration.
BACKGROUND
Despite the fact that there are more and more Chinese nurses living and working in Australia, relatively little is known about the decisions to emigrate made by these nurses.


OBJECTIVE
To explore factors influencing China-educated nurses to emigrate to Australia.


METHODS
This was a secondary analysis of 46 semi-structured interviews with 28 China-educated nurses working in Australia. Conventional content analysis was used, and the results are presented thematically.


RESULTS
The nurses emigrated for a wide variety of reasons: (a) personal factors (to improve English, to see more of the world and cultures, to seek novelty and adventure); (b) work-related factors (better work environment and more career choices); (c) social factors (better living environment and lifestyle); (d) cultural factors (positive perceptions in China of those who emigrate or have overseas experiences), and (e) economic factors (higher salaries and greater purchasing power).


CONCLUSIONS
Confirming findings from similar studies, China-educated nurses' decisions to migrate are complex and not based solely on economic expectations. Personal and cultural factors play vital roles in nurses' migration decisions.
School of Nursing, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 548 Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China.
Yunxian
Y
Zhou
School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill 27599, NC, USA.
Cecelia
C
Roscigno
School of Nursing, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 548 Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: 1193138211@qq.com.
Qiuhua
Q
Sun
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003469:Culture; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Chinese nurse; Content analysis; Immigrant nurses; Motivation; Nurse emigration; Nurse migration; Qualitative research; Secondary analysis