‘Driving nurses out’: analysis of out-migration intentions of student nurses in the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

The growing migration of nurses from resource-constrained countries to developed countries, fuelled by post-COVID demand for health professionals poses a formidable challenge to sustainable healthcare delivery. In this paper, we examine out-migration intentions of student nurses at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, focusing on how structural conditions in the healthcare sector influence migration intentions of student nurses undergoing training. Drawing on a range of quantitative data techniques, a sample of 140 undergraduate student nurses were sampled to answer a survey questionnaire. Findings reveal migration intentions of student nurses are influenced by poor working conditions, inadequate facilities and equipment, discrepancies in salaries, and inadequate allowances. However, unemployment was found to exert the least influence on intention to migrate, contrary to findings in the extant literature. Our paper contributes new empirical insights to migration of nurses and underscores how unfavourable structural conditions in Ghana’s healthcare system represent significant drivers of migration intention of student nurses.