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.

Experts agree this trend will continue. And the good news is, health care jobs can’t be outsourced like those in manufacturing or other fields. Those in the health care field are going to be jobs that stay in the United States and add to the economy.

In my Each One Reach One Nurse initiative, I remind nurses to advocate nursing as a great career. Even though some places have temporary hiring freezes, the nursing shortage still exists. All of us nurses need to be forward thinkers and help to end the shortage of tomorrow by helping to recruit and retain nurses today.

I’ve got lots of simple way to do that, please contact me.

Helping patients with personal hygiene lets nurses use all their assessment, observational and communication skills. We discover how well the patient can coordinate their actions, mentally process what they are told, and how they express themselves. It is a great opportunity to assess patient’s skin integrity and physical state. It is also the best way to learn the early signs of clinical problems.

Equally important. bathing people shows them we have time for them. It helps build trust and the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship as much as medicines or other clinical interventions. Helping a patient bathe is one of the most fundamental and crucial skills available to nurses, regardless of initials behind their names.

When, as a nurse motivational speaker, I help hospitals recruit and retain their nurses, I often hear from staff that they are so busy doing technical care, they miss doing the personal care. To retain nurses, we need to allow them to incorporate high touch with high tech.

For more ways to retain nurses contact me . I have lots of great strategies!

Think about it. If every staff member took on the responsibility to make just one change that would make a better work environment, what a positive productive place you’d have!

Form a committee to create a program for each staff member to offer one idea that answers this question: “What changes would you suggest that would make working here a 10?” Then, empower them with the freedom to list these suggestions, the possible obstacles, and solutions.

This will engage your entire team and help you recruit and retain you nurses.

My Each One Reach One Nurse initiative has lots more ideas! Contact me...I’d love to share them!

With so many new nurses adapting to night shift work, lack of sleep can become an issue that impacts job satisfaction. No wonder Cheryl Burnette,  Centra’s nurse retention coordinator,  earned national recognition at the 2009 Nursing Management Congress.

With so many new nurses adapting to night shift work, lack of sleep is an issue that impacts job satisfaction.

What a great nurse recruitment and retention tool! Who wouldn’t want to work for a place that cares for their nurses in this way, implementing this quality of life tool?

When I speak to nurses, giving life balance tools, I encourage them to sleep. I’m always amazed at how grateful they are, like this is a new idea!

It is an “old” idea, but a great one. Help your nurses sleep.

To get more of my life balance tools and recruitment and retetention ideas, contact me. I can put your nurses to sleep. :)

As the population ages, and the baby boomers need  more hospital care, retaining veteran nurses will be even more critical. But today’s nursing workforce is also aging, and numerous surveys find that more than half of today’s employed nurses plan to retire in the next 15 to 20 years.

There are solutions; hospitals, medical centers and other health care organizations can initiate activities that help to keep more veteran nurses at patient bedsides, according to a new study supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and coordinated by The Lewin Group.

The study, “Wisdom at Work: Retaining Experienced Nurses,” finds that many hospitals  lowered turnover rates among experienced nurses by making a concerted effort to improve nurse morale and productivity.

Ergonomic initiatives, such as teams and equipment to help nurses lift patients and other heavy items, did not contribute to an overall drop in turnover among experienced nurses; however, they did improve morale and cut expenses associated with work-related injuries, the study finds.

Foward-thinking hospitals paying attention to the morale of their nurses during these challenging times. When I deliver “Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul” to staff, I give them tools to care for themselves as they care for others and honor them for all they do. They leave renewed, recharged, and recommitted.  I can help boost your staff morale and help you retain your experienced nurses. Contact me.

So I was shocked when I read that the Department of Health and Human Services statistics say we will have 1.2 million RN vacancies by 2014! That’s just 5 years away!

Just when we Baby Boomers need the most care, we will be experiencing the greatest nursing shortages our nation has seen. We need to be forward thinkers, and not just hire  the nurses we need for today, we must look ahead and take steps now and make plans to recruit nurses and retain them.

What are you doing pro-actively to prevent a shortage in your organization? My Each One Reach One Nurse Initiative has proven ideas to recruit the nurses you need and retain the ones you have. contact me now

I overheard “soccer moms” talking about hauling their kids to soccer practice, and piano lessons, and karate and Girl Scouts and…then they have to go to work as a nurse!

Keeping a balance between involvement and insanity becomes tricky. Why is your child so busy…for his sake, or yours? Are you living vicariously through her fun?

A balanced family has quiet time, dinners together, time to laugh. Be sure in the hectic times,  to create life balance and live your priorities. Need some tips? I wrote the book on it!  contact me

It’s rare that a nurse actually WANTS to work nights or holidays. Deciding who works the unpopular shifts is a cause of stress and disharmony sometimes.

I was recently doing a nurse recruitment and retention event at a hospital when they told me about their program of “Bid-shifts.” Nurse earn points for each extra shift worked; unpopular shifts earn more points. These points are redeemed with prizes or days off.

Another hospital created an incentive system to earn points and worked with a company at www.Boostrewards.com, a web-based tracking and rewards system. Prizes ranged from Amazon books to furniture!

Bidding for shifts seems to be an idea where everybody wins. As a matter of fact, in some situations nurses are stumbling over one another to sign up for them! To learn more ideas about how to retain the nurses you have, contact me.