Perceived stress and intention to migrate to the interior of Peru among physicians and nurses who reside in Lima: exploratory analysis of the national survey of satisfaction of users in health, 2015

Objectives. To identify the frequency of intention to migrate to the interior of Peru (IMIP) and assess the association between perceived stress (PS) and IMIP among physicians and nurses residing in metropolitan Lima in 2015. Materials and methods. This was a secondary analysis of data obtained from the National Survey of Satisfaction of Users in Health (Encuesta Nacional de Satisfacción de Usuarios en Salud–ENSUSALUD) in 2015. Only professionals residing in Metropolitan Lima were included for the analysis. IMIP was defined as the intention to work in a geographical region other than Lima. PS was measured using the 14-question perceived stress scale validated in Spanish. Logistic regression was used to evaluate this association; the measure of association was the odds ratio (OR) with the 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results. Data from 796 professionals were analyzed, 54.8% of whom were nurses. The average age was 45.2 years; 4.9% (37) of the participants had IMIP, 64.9% (24) of whom were nurses. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated an association between higher PS and IMIP (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.07–1.60). Conclusions. The IMIP was reported by one of every 20 professionals and was associated with higher PS in the study group.