Key Retention Strategies for Community Hospitals

I worked in a hospital with a low retention rate on the ICUs(once a certain manager was gone). We had a WOW (Baylor) program, and a career ladder that included extra pay for certification, joining a committee, precepting, obtaining extra training that pertained to the area, etc.

That not only added up financially, but helped us to improve our practice. We all got along very well, too- that was extremely helpful.

weekend option...

We had a similar program that the head nurse did away with. That was three years ago roughly. Right now we're running a 20 bed unit with (on average) 6 or 7 nurses a day...if nobody calls in sick. Management won't hire travelers and we have no agency/registry program - although word is "They're working on it." And we have several nurses about to go on maternity leave in the next month. There are four of us (including myself) getting ready to start travel nursing this summer as well.

It's ugly. And instead of being proactive about it, like getting outside help, or closing beds, I get called at 5 am on every day off I have, begging me to come to work.

I was on a committee (shared governance) that made their mission to improve staff retention, but once the Nurse exec uttered the words "I've come to realize that it really doesn't have anything to do with money...", I lost interest. Her idea was to make our hospital magnet.

Retention is about a number of things.....

I believe number 1 overall is job satisfaction, feeling like you're making a difference.

Secondly, is good management. Remember people don't generally quit JOBS, they quit MANAGERS, and those are mostly BAD MANAGERS.

If a hospital's administration doesn't recognize this, then they are blind to running a good business. Pay plays in, but not nearly as much as the above two do, IMHO. I opted for a lower paying job, because I was looking at an opportunity to be in a position where I could take BETTER care of my patients and be more readily available just last spring.

As a nurse who was terminated by some BAD management, I sat by and watched what was once probably one of the BEST Cardiac Step-Down units in the state of OHIO, crumble with more than 20 nurses leaving in ONE YEAR'S time. If anyone reading this knows me personally, they would very likely agree 100%. When 4 assistant manager level nurses resign from one unit in less than 6 months, there's certainly a problem.

Certainly, MANAGEMENT must have some issues with a retention rate so low. But if your hospital's administration is FAILING to recognize that, then they also have some very serious issues. First of which is they don't really care what type of employees they get as long as they have "warm bodies" to fill the "warm body" slots. Considering the costs of training a NEW nurse, RETENTION efforts are well worth whatever money is spent on them in MOST cases, unfortunately, most hospital administrators who are involved in budget tend to be focused on the short term, not the long term.

Which is more costly???? Pay 5 nurses fair wages, while making sure that the staffing is appropriate, even to the extent of paying overtime as needed, or losing 5 nurses every 2-3 yrs, and having to spend your time and MONEY retraining new staff again and again.

those things are great....but we currently have a weekend option program and 6 of our nurses are making $40.00 an hour on that program.... we have a clinical ladder program too.... it started last april and so far 36 of 274 nurses have achieved clinician iii. they made a bonus and have increased their pay by $1.00 an hour. unfortunately, we live near a base that has contract nurses and they start at over $30.00 per hour. our max pay before the clinical ladder was just under $29.00 per hour... our low staff numbers have also been asked to work a lot of overtime and flex up more often than not. we have even tried adding an admissions nurse to the mix so the nurses don't have to do their admission assessments on at least 3 days of the week.... we even have a nurse council that has been in existence for almost a year now.... one of the biggest problems has been lack of physician respect..... and many feel lack of administrative support....

any other ideas?

:o:o:o

this is and will be a problem until the end of time in most places, especially smaller hospitals. i'll go out on a limb and say that i believe (as i've been told by a few older, meaning 30+ yrs. experienced nurses) that an increased number of male nurses, especially ones like myself who just based on appearance often times "command" respect has greatly benefitted the nursing profession. but, regardless of anything any of us does, there will always be this problem. however, again i go back to management and administration, and if they support a nurse when a nurse has a "legitimate" issue with a physician, that also helps with retention.