The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of current nursing retention programs in hospitals in Taiwan and the relationships between job satisfaction and intention to stay. A proportional multi- stratified random sampling technique was used to recruit nurses who were working in accredited district and regional hospitals in the years 1996 to 1998. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 471 nurses with 2 years of nursing experience, and analyzed by non-parametric and logistic regression. The results showed that a majority of the respondents positively recognized the importance of the DOH retention policy and were satisfied with its implementation. Nurses whose working hospital had a retention program had higher job satisfaction and intention to stay than those without a retention program. Based on the findings, nursing and hospital administrators could develop retrievable data gathered during an ongoing organizational retention policy and develop strategic planning for stabilizing their clinical nursing workforce.