A boom in nursing care, as record numbers hit retirement age, and a clinical emphasis on preventive care, help spawn thousands of jobs within the nursing profession – including nurse specialists and therapists.

Healthcare jobs projected to increase most in coming years include many in the nursing profession: registered nurses (RNs), nursing aides, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, reports The Bureau of Labor.

The outlook for healthcare jobs is positive according to Labor. Healthcare jobs continue to outpace employment sectors manufacturing and construction and are expected to number 344,000 by year’s end, a level of growth not seen in four years.

There is much hope for nursing professionals seeking jobs.

To learn more of my nurse recruitment and nurse retention strategies and/or to have me speak at your facility to improve morale, retention and recruitment, contact me.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reported an increase in nursing school enrollment throughout the past decade, yet qualified nursing school applicants continue to be turned away from colleges and universities.

AACN reports that in 2009, nursing schools rejected nearly 55,000 qualified applicants. Faculty shortages, budget constraints, and increasing job competition from clinical sites all contributed to the limited number of graduates.

Who do you know who would make a great nurse educator? How can your hospital work with area colleges to help educate and train nurses?

To learn more of my nurse recruitment and retention strategies and/or to have me speak at our facility to increase morale, retention and recruitment, contact me.

“It looks like healthcare is back in business,” Bacurin said. “The demand for ambulatory nurse jobs has skyrocketed and almost half of all jobs created in September went to healthcare.”

Bureau of Labor numbers confirm what Bacurin says. Hospital job growth in the first nine months of 2011 is four times what it was in all of 2010. Moreover, 42 percent of new jobs last month were healthcare jobs.

There is much hope for nurses looking for jobs as nurse recruitment increases.
To learn more of my nurse recruitment and retention strategies and/or to have me speak at your facility to increase morale, retention and recruitment, contact me.

Nearly half of employers offer such programs, almost double from 2005. In companies with 500 or more employees, the number increases to about 75 percent.

Wellness programs not only improve the health of the staff, but they also increase productivity while saving the company money.

Studies have shown that for every $1 a company puts into corporate wellness programs, $3 is saved through decreased sick days, increased worker productivity and employee retention, according to the National Business Group on Health inWashington,D.C.

To learn more of my nurse recruitment and retention strategies and/or to have me speak at your facility to increase morale, retention and recruitment, contact me.

Already operating room nurses are in short supply in many areas, rural and urban. It can be hard to find an OR nurse even when offering top dollar. It is predicted that  ASCs will have to rely more on OR technicians to do some peri-operative work.

The aging nurse workforce could be a boon for ASCs that traditionally rely on a part-time workers. As nurses age, the ones who can afford it are going move to part-time work.

ASCs will be competing against hospitals, which tend to offer higher salaries and valuable extra benefits and sometimes sign-on bonuses.Some nurses prefer working in a hospital over an ASC because they can get longer shifts with time-and-a-half pay.  ASCs attract nurses by showing how they are different from the hospital, offering a steady workweek with no weekend work, which would appeal to many nurses.

As the nursing shortage looms, nurse recruitment will be in the forefront again.

To learn how I can help you recruit the nurses you need and retain the nurses you have, contact me.

The 2011 Survey of Registered Nurses: Job Satisfaction and Career Plans, also found that while nurse career satisfaction was high at 74%, actual satisfaction with the role RNs currently hold was at 58%, down from 66% last year.

Most alarmingly, the survey found that 32% of nurses plan to take steps in the next one to three years that would take them out of nursing, up from the 26% in the 2010 survey.

We are facing a “perfect storm” for a nursing shortage. What is your hospital doing to retain the nurses you have?

To learn about my nurse recruitment and retention strategies, contact me.

Studies show that navigation services increase patient participation in cancer screening and adherence to followup care.

The Commission on Cancer, part of the American College of Surgeons, issued new standards this year requiring cancer centers to offer patient-navigator services by 2015 to meet accreditation requirements.

With the nursing shortage crisis looming, this information supports plans to recruit nurses for future patient care needs.

To learn more ways to recruit the nurses you need and retain the nurses you have, contact me 

While previous studies have found high turnover rates — between 23 and 36 percent — in the long-term care industry, this new study found that only 5.8 percent of the workers left and 8.4 percent switched to another facility within a year.

Staff turnover increases the financial burden of caring for elders and interferes with the quality of care. This study shows that to increase the retention of these workers, administrators should address low job satisfaction among employees and provide health insurance.

To learn more about this study, click here.

2009 Mercer study reports 34% of companies with 500 employees or more offer healthcare onsite or near their facility. As a result, workers maintain better overall health, and each company sees an increase in productivity with a decrease in healthcare costs.

The American Journal for Preventative Medicine reports that employers can see a return of $3 to $6 for each dollar spent over two to five years on employee health strategies.

Employee health screening show that disease management is working. The employees’ cholesterol levels are down, blood sugar levels in diabetics improve and employees are healthier overall. There is also a reduction in the overall cost for providing employee health care. Some report a 20 percent reduction in overall health insurance costs per employee.

Do you have an employee wellness program at your facility? How can you add or improve it to care for your staff and retain them?

To learn more about how to care for, recruit, and retain your staff, contact me.