When it comes to the Great Resignation, forget office workers – the real wave of resignation is coming from nurses. For many months post-COVID, nearly every headline, or so it seemed, was about office employees, their career paths, and the return to the office. What was underreported then – and continues to be – is that the Great Resignation came in full force for nurses.
The dynamics in healthcare are always complicated: Costs are going up, margins and reimbursements are shrinking, and there are clinical shortages everywhere (with no hint of it letting up anytime soon). Our U.S. healthcare system is placing a very heavy burden on nurses who are being driven to the brink, often leaving the field altogether.
Nurses provide critical care for all of us. They’re the lifeblood of our healthcare system, but burnout continues to push them out, creating an untenable situation in communities across the country. Here are four tips on how to keep nurses in the field.
1. Offer more than a “thank you”
Nursing is more than a job – it’s a calling. While most nurses go into the profession to make a difference, they’re leaving in droves, which has been widely reported. They’re overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid. Nurses often work under unsafe staffing ratios as some health systems cut corners to keep their budgets balanced or struggle to find experienced clinicians to fill shortages.
So much has been written about the power and flexibility technology can offer employees in dozens of industries, especially those in service-related ones. In today’s climate with solutions like conference services, virtual private networks, and SaaS-based productivity suites, workers are able to work from almost anywhere they want, so why not nurses too?
Technology has supercharged travel nursing by making it easier than ever to find desirable positions. And, perhaps the most obvious benefit is the ability to take a well-compensated assignment, and – even more importantly – one that they want and for which they’re a good fit.
2. Recognize that self-determination drives satisfaction
Travel clinicians can help restore job satisfaction among clinicians and help boost retention and productivity for healthcare facilities by ensuring units are fully staffed and patient-to-staff ratios remain manageable. Recent survey data shows that more than three out of four (76%) travel clinicians report satisfaction with their most recent placement. So much so that 83% of them would recommend the profession to a friend.
The reported high rates of satisfaction can be attributed to a number of factors, including empowering clinicians by giving them more control over their own career journeys with a better sense of flexibility and choice. Travel clinicians can select assignments that appeal directly to what they want at that stage in their careers, whether it is the ability to learn new skills, maximize their existing expertise, or create a better work-life balance. They can also avoid elements like unmanageable patient-to-staff ratios, excessively long shits, and hospital politics. Knowing there is always a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, coupled with the ability to build in time for rest and recuperation, can have a very positive impact on a professional’s mindset and happiness.
3. Hone in on specificity and skills mapping
In a field as specialized as nursing, traditional recruitment methods won’t cut it anymore. Nurses know what their expertise is, where their passions lie, and what jobs in which they belong. For far too long, travel recruiters have been selling jobs to nurses without putting much thought into whether a particular position aligns with that nurse’s background. Healthcare facilities that want to make meaningful improvements for their staff need to hire people, and the best way to do that today is with technology.
Technology, such as automated staffing platforms, allows job-seeking nurses to regain control over their careers. Rather than trying to force a NICU nurse into a med-surg job, these recruitment tools give them the opportunity to self-review job postings and their required skill sets to determine which are a match. They allow nurses to operate at the top of their licenses and thrive there. Medical workers utilizing staffing platforms are typically only going to apply for positions they really want. Accepting an assignment they know fits their interests and expertise immediately sets them up for success and inherently lowers their chance of burning out on the job, or canceling prior to the set start date.
4. Reimagine education
The demand nationwide is partially due to the fact that graduation numbers at many nursing schools have slowed to a trickle. There are not enough educators, which means those in school are unable to complete their training, increasing the waitlists to even get into classes.
Some states, like Minnesota, are tackling this problem head-on. The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State University formed the Coalition for Nursing Excellence and Equity in the hopes of attracting more students to the field without increasing the costs of education. By attempting to mitigate any racial, systemic, or financial barriers that may prevent minority caregivers from pursuing careers in nursing, the coalition hopes to move nursing students forward while addressing the worsening staffing shortage in hospitals and clinics.
Helping nurses get trained and certified is hugely important, but a new generation entering the workforce means new expectations, values, and work preferences, particularly concerning technology. In today’s nursing schools, technology is ubiquitous. Hardware such as tablets and medical software are central to how students complete their courses. Not only that, but today’s nursing students – regardless of age – use technology in every aspect of their lives. And after they graduate, they prefer to use technology like automated staffing platforms.
We can’t afford not to act
With data forecasting that by 2030 4.7 million nurses worldwide will retire, leaving a deficit of 900,000 RNs in the United States alone, this paints a grim picture for our healthcare system, which cannot function without nurses. This means everyone in need of care – each and every one of us – will likely spend more time in waiting rooms than with the clinician. It also means longer wait times for procedures, hospital beds, and even emergency care.
For healthcare facilities, the shortage impacts the bottom line. Without the personnel in place to provide care and perform critical surgeries – a hospital’s primary source of revenue – facilities will not be able to sustain themselves, leaving many communities without healthcare and the ability to receive medical treatment in their own region.
Fair and competitive compensation, self-determination, personal agency and skills mapping, and educational opportunities are four critical ways to shift energy and positivity into healthcare, address nursing burnout, and arrest the Great Resignation among our most valuable professionals.
After all, based on what they offer us all, nurses deserve so much better than they’ve been given, and it is within our power to provide that.
About Kim Howard
Kim Howard, is chief client officer at Nomad Health. She brings more than 25 years of staffing industry experience, with 18 years focused entirely on the healthcare market. With prior experience at AMN and Nursefinders, Kim is passionate about providing clinicians with the tools, information, and support they need so they can find the most rewarding assignments with as little effort as possible, allowing them to do what they love the most – focus on their patients.