Cheney Golden Age Home is a nursing home facility that is located just 25 minutes from Wichita, Kansas. It offers resident care which is its main focus. It is a small healthcare facility with 45 beds and is rated as being top performing. It registers above average in the number of hours of care per day received by residents from all types of nurses, that is, registered nurses (RNs), certified nurse assistants (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs). However, the problem at hand is the retention of these nurses.
The nursing shortage is increasingly becoming a problem for many health facilities. Majority of these facilities can successfully employ qualified nurses but have a high turnover rate. A study conducted by Nursing Solutions, Inc., (NSI) found that the average rate of turnover for registered nurses in 2013, had risen to 14.2 percent nationally. This was an increase from the rate in 2012 which stood at 13.1 percent ( “Keeping Nurses: Strategies for Nurse Retention”, n.d. ).
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Retention of nurses plays a great role in service delivery and customer satisfaction in al health facilities. An increase in registered nurses turnover will result in a decrease in recruitment activities, patient care, and morale. Similarly, the retention of professional nurses will also result in improved healthcare and a boosted morale in the workforce ( “Keeping Nurses: Strategies for Nurse Retention”, n.d. ).
Cheney Golden Age Home as a health facility is not exempt from professional nurses’ turnover. For this reason, there is the need for the human resource department to come up with and implement effective retention strategies. These strategies will ensure better service delivery and customer satisfaction in the facility.
When developing retention strategies, one must determine factors that may play a role in motivating nurses to continue working in the facility ( “Keeping Nurses: Strategies for Nurse Retention”, n.d. ). Some of these strategies may include coming up with operational policies for recognition, communication, succession planning, turnover analysis and exit review.
Recognition
Recognition plays an important role in establishing a good working environment for any organization. According to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) (2005), meaningful recognition is one of the essential factors in any healthy working environment. Meaningful recognition is categorized with other factors such as effective decision making, appropriate staffing, skilled communication, true collaboration and authentic leadership as important when establishing a healthy working environment (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2005). The AACN (2005) sees recognition as a process that is ongoing and that only occurs when an individual adds value to an organization.
The HR Success Guide (2014) lists the purpose of recognition as the appreciation of an employee’s work by the employer. This recognition takes many forms such as monetary rewards, for example, bonuses; thank you notes and even awards ceremonies such as the ‘Employee of the Month’. All play a critical role in establishing a positive relationship between employee productivity and morale and retention (HR Success Guide, 2014).
Communication
Communication has always been an integral factor in any organization. In the healthcare industry, minimal communication or lack thereof has always resulted in strained relationships not only among the medical staff but also between the medical staff and patients. According to a study by the Institute of Medicine when medical teams have poor communication, patient deaths resulting from mistakes are more likely to occur ( “Improving your communication skills as a nurse manager”, 2017 ).
As a retention strategy, one of the policies that a nurse manager can employ is the open door policy. Using this policy the nurse manager can let the nurses know that his or her office is always open for any issues that they may want to be addressed ( “Improving your communication skills as a nurse manager”, 2017 ). According to Tang (2003) other communication strategies that can be effective include utilizing unit-level nurses in the departmental and organizational committees, organizing meetings between nurse leaders and unit-level nurses and using team meetings to improve rates of retention.
Succession Planning/Leadership Development
Succession planning plays a role in addressing the shortage of nurse leaders which is a result of nurse shortage. A nurse leader can identify an individual with high potential and then develop them in readiness to occupy leadership roles (Titzer, 2016). According to Titzer (2016, a three-step approach can be used to ensure effective succession planning in an organization.
These steps include identifying internal talent development methods, establishing competencies in roles available and identifying positions with high turnover rates and vacancy. The identification of positions with high turnover rates ensures retention. A turnover rate of up to 50 percent is common in nurse manager roles because most of the qualified nurses lack leadership training (Titzer, 2016). For this reason, nurse leaders should ensure their succession planning framework meets the standard of Recommendation 7 as provided for in the Institute of Medicine Future of Nursing Report. This recommendation calls for the preparation and enabling of nurses to lead change and advance health (Institute of Medicine, 2010).
Turnover Analysis and Exit Interview
High turnover rates in nursing cost the medical industry a lot of money. The Nursing Solutions, Inc., (NSI) found that in the year 2013 the high turnover costs were $44,380 to $63,400 for each nurse. An average of $4 million to $6 million is lost by hospitals because of turnover ( “Keeping Nurses: Strategies for Nurse Retention”, n.d . ). These high costs should be good reason enough for hospitals to take a keen interest in enforcing policies that will ensure better retention rates for nurses in their facilities.
Exit interviews are often used by many organizations when employees voluntarily seek an end to their employment. This offers the employer with information on the work experience of the employees thereby allowing the organization to identify factors that may hinder job satisfaction and performance (Alert Bulletin, 2009). Nursing homes may use this strategy to acquire essential information that may help them in improving staff retention.
In conclusion, for Cheney Golden Age Home to ensure staff retention, the facility should employ the strategies discussed. These strategies will ensure better service delivery and patient satisfaction.
References
Alert Bulletin. (2009). Exit Interviews: Employee Perceptions Can Help Improve Morale, Reduce Liability. CAN HealthPro.
American Association of Critical ‐ Care Nurses. (2005). AACN standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments: A journey to excellence. American Association of Critical ‐ Care Nurses .
HR Success Guide. (2014). Employee Relations. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/HRSuccessGuide/employee-relations-34622251
Improving your communication skills as a nurse manager. (2017). Retrieved from http://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/resources/articles/improving-your-communication-skills-as-a-nurse-manager/
Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing leading change, advancing health. Retrieved from https://http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing/Future%20of%20Nursing%202010%20Recommendations.pdf
Keeping Nurses: Strategies for Nurse Retention. Retrieved from https://www.newenglandcollegeonline.com/resources/healthcare-administration/keeping-nurses-strategies-for-nurse-retention/
Tang J. H. (2003). Evidenced-based protocol. Nurse retention. Journal of Gerontological Nursing , 29(3), 5-14.
Titzer J.L. (2016). Three first steps for effective succession planning. American Nurse Today , 11(9).
