At hospitals, nursing is the largest workforce. Absenteeism may be directly related to the work conditions, reflecting on quality and productivity and on the personal life of the nursing professionals. Objective: This study will identify extent of absenteeism of nurses and factors that influence absenteeism and recommend ways in which nurse administrators could address the factors that contribute to absenteeism rates among professional nurses working in public hospitals. Method: It is descriptive, exploratory, quantitative, qualitative study. In the qualitative stage, annual average and overall rates of absenteeism were measured among nurses from five public hospitals of Mumbai over 12 months, according to the record given by the Hospital Management In the qualitative stage, five nursing managers from five hospitals were interviewed. Results: The quantitative stage revealed important differences in each institution and between institutions, with various monthly rates exceeding the monthly rate of 6.7% The qualitative stage examined positive impact decisions taken by these institutions, where relationships with managers, dialogue, and meeting the physical and emotional demands of professionals were considered important factors. Conclusion: Absenteeism is a reality in day-to-day nursing staff management. It varied according to the month of the year and in different hospital, and it was possible to classify according to the degree of the problem. In addition, the results showed that employee illness, illness of the in laws and other social reasons were key factors, enabling management decisions based on each hospital’s reality.
