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This study aims to explore the effectiveness of action learning (AL) in PA education through the action research (AR). Public administration (PA) requires training paths for its officials aimed at developing managerial skills. Training designers must construct pathways that identify goals and results to be obtained. Most importantly, they should adopt techniques that engage all stakeholders and measure training performance. This study uses the action research (AR) method to explore the effectiveness of action learning (AL) in PA education. It shows how a training project for officials of the PA can be designed and managed in a participatory and engaging manner.

The AR approach is particularly suited to long-term training interventions in PA because it offers a means of taking shared responsibility. AR aids in building a bridge between academia and practice and solving real problems with stakeholders, students and end-clients through cyclical interactions of construction, intervention and evaluation. It focuses on AL as an innovative educational tool that links knowledge and action and theory and practice.

The involvement of different stakeholders, such as teachers, students, administrators and politicians, in the design, management and evaluation process facilitates the identification of educational objectives and monitoring of outcomes in a changing public organizational context. AL is effective because it involves students as individuals and as a team, often as an organization, while trying to solve real problems.

AL through the AR approach has not been widely used in education, especially in PA, where teaching legal and administrative content combines traditional teaching methods. The case study shows the innovative potential of AL in a traditional context such as the PA.

Society is critically dependent on an adequate supply of hospital doctors to ensure optimal health care. Voluntary turnover amongst hospital doctors is, however, an increasing problem for hospitals. The aim of this study was to systematically review the extant academic literature to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the current knowledge base on hospital doctor turnover and retention. In addition to this, we synthesise the most common methodological approaches used before then offering an agenda to guide future research.

Adopting the PRISMA methodology, we conducted a systematic literature search of four databases, namely CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science.

We identified 51 papers that empirically examined hospital doctor turnover and retention. Most of these papers were quantitative, cross-sectional studies focussed on meso-level predictors of doctor turnover.

Selection criteria concentrated on doctors who worked in hospitals, which limited knowledge of one area of the healthcare environment. The review could disregard relevant articles, such as those that discuss the turnover and retention of doctors in other specialities, including general practitioners. Additionally, being limited to peer-reviewed published journals eliminates grey literature such as dissertations, reports and case studies, which may bring impactful results.

Globally, hospital doctor turnover is a prevalent issue that is influenced by a variety of factors. However, a lack of focus on doctors who remain in their job hinders a comprehensive understanding of the issue. Conducting “stay interviews” with doctors could provide valuable insight into what motivates them to remain and what could be done to enhance their work conditions. In addition, hospital management and recruiters should consider aspects of job embeddedness that occur outside of the workplace, such as facilitating connections outside of work. By resolving these concerns, hospitals can retain physicians more effectively and enhance their overall retention efforts.

Focussing on the reasons why employees remain with an organisation can have significant social repercussions. When organisations invest in gaining an understanding of what motivates their employees to stay in the job, they are better able to establish a positive work environment that likely to promote employee well-being and job satisfaction. This can result in enhanced job performance, increased productivity and higher employee retention rates, all of which are advantageous to the organisation and its employees.

The review concludes that there has been little consideration of the retention, as opposed to the turnover, of hospital doctors. We argue that more expansive methodological approaches would be useful, with more qualitative approaches likely to be particularly useful. We also call on future researchers to consider focussing further on why doctors remain in posts when so many are leaving.