Abstract: Objective: To investigate and learn the willingness of delayed retirement among senior nursing staff (with a title of associate professor of nursing or professor of nursing) and the relevant influencing factors for the sake of providing scientific evidences for formulating relevant policies. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted on 375 senior nursing staff who came from ten tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu province by the self-designed questionnaire. Results: Totally 78.9% respondents were opposed to delaying the retirement age, while 75.7% respondents were not willing to delay the retirement age. What's more, health status (69.3%), having children or elderly people to look after (56.0%) and policy provisions (53.3%) were top three factors affecting the choice of whether to delay retirement. Conclusion: Most in-service senior nursing staff object to delay the retirement age and concern about the delay of retirement. Managers need to develop individualized programs of retirement according to senior nurses' personal willingness.

Key words: senior nursing staff; delayed retirement; willingness; investigation