How hospitals can improve nurse retention

Skip to content. Nurses working in behavioral health, step down and emergency services experienced the highest nursing turnover rate. What Causes High Nursing Turnover? Why is Nurse Retention Important? Strategies for Improving Nurse Retention Improving the practice environment makes it easier for hospitals to reduce nursing turnover and retain nurses. How Hospitals Can Reduce Nursing Turnover Here are a few strategies that hospitals can try to reduce nursing turnover: Reducing overtime and eliminating mandatory overtime.

Developing shared governance programs that give nurses a voice in scheduling, workflows, and hospital policies. Ensuring adequate nurse staffing levels and supporting acuity-based staffing tools. Encouraging and developing a workplace culture of collaboration between nurses and physicians. The unfortunate reality is that the healthcare industry has never been particularly good at retaining nurses: even before COVID, nurses were reporting record levels of burnout and nearly 20 percent left their first post within two years.

But as with so many aspects of the healthcare system, the pandemic has exacerbated long standing issues and made the status quo untenable. In order to prevent a tsunami of departures, hospitals must put strategies in place to support and retain their nursing workforce.

Here are three ways they can do so. Create new opportunities away from the bedside. Many nurses who are considering leaving the profession are conflicted, and can still be won over.

In the short-term, nurse leaders need to meet with members of their staff individually and move nurses who are in periods of mental distress from the most demanding units like the ER or ICU into less acute roles or away from the bedside entirely. Organizations with a nurse residency program provide new nurses with additional support, while also engaging experienced nurses as preceptors—fostering new connections and a healthy, collaborative culture.

In addition to improving nurse retention, nurse residency programs instill a sense of community and confidence in new nurses. Nursing leaders are gaining more recognition than ever, and more nurses are pursuing advanced degrees in preparation to take on new roles in their careers. To support nurses on their career journey, organizations must establish a culture that promotes learning and leadership development. Organizations focusing on how to improve nurse retention often overlook something as simple as recognition for high-performing nurses.

This approach for how to retain nurse staff is also a small effort with a big reward. Taking a moment to celebrate those nurses with work anniversaries for their dedication and loyalty to the organization is especially important for millennial nurse retention, as these nurses may be more comfortable with change leaving their practice or an organization.

Providing nurses with an ongoing opportunity for lifelong learning is truly worth the investment. Ensuring nurses feel valued is key to retaining nurses in the workplace. Promoting a healthy work-life balance is an important key to improving nursing staff retention. Nurses endure physically and emotionally demanding shifts typically 12 hours , leaving little room for additional energy.

Especially important for new nurse retention, organizations should create a culture that encourages time away from work and the chance to recharge. High rates of resignations and new hires can quickly make a healthcare business unsustainable. There are also significant non-financial downsides, such as unit disruption and the loss of institutional knowledge and experience. A Forbes article noted that Millennials often leave jobs within two to five years.

Thirty-three percent of them move on after two years. Within eight years, 60 percent of new RNs have left their jobs. Retirement of older, more experienced nurses is also a growing concern. Reasons to Stay. Given the high cost of turnover, hospital administrators, educators, and healthcare teams are all looking for ways to better support nurses and encourage them to stay with their current institution.

Hire the Right People. These areas include:. Asking the right questions during the interview process can help you select candidates who are more likely to stick around as well as identifying future leaders of your group. Offer Meaningful Benefits.