Introduction
Nursing is becoming more sector-dependent, and nurses are expected to work in specific settings. Having a strategic plan to retain new nurses requires leaders of health institutions to be transparent with their employees. Transparency and trust amongst the employees can help promote and maintain a healthy working environment, leading to better performance and, hopefully, retention. This paper will discuss a strategic plan to retain nurses at Mayo Clinic – Rochester Rochester, Minnesota. To guide a health organization in creating a long-term vision achievable in a relatively short period, managers develop strategic plans to reduce staff turnover.
History and Accomplishments of the Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical education institution located in Rochester, Minnesota. Mayo Clinic was founded in 1889 and is the world’s largest not-for-profit integrated multidisciplinary group practice (Olson et al., 2019). The clinic was founded by two doctors committed to high-quality care at affordable prices, having an extensive staff of physicians and interns, a wide range of expertise through research, and always demonstrating compassion in everything they do. It employs nearly 60,000 staff and 6300 physicians, making it the largest employer in Minnesota and one of the largest in the United States.
The Mission of the Mayo Clinic
The institution’s mission is to provide excellence in patient care and education by integrating clinical and other resources. Mayo clinic’s mission is to practice, perform and lead research to provide everyone with the best care. According to (Sanchez-Alvarez et al. (2020), Mayo Clinic is one of the highest-rated hospitals in America, with a list of awards that includes being ranked first by U.S News and World Report’s Best Hospitals list.
The Vision of Mayo Clinic
The vision is to be the premier center for diagnosing, preventing, treating, and researching complex human illnesses. Mayo clinic’s vision is to be the best and most respected center of learning, patient care, and research in all fields of medicine. The clinic aims to be innovative and forward-thinking by working with industry leaders and other hospitals to provide the highest quality care for everyone (Sanchez-Alvarez et al., 2020). Mayo Clinic is confident that it will stay on top through all staff members’ dedication, innovation, compassion, and respect.
The Values of the Mayo Clinic
The values of the Mayo Clinic are innovation, independence, integrity, respect for all, personal responsibility, competence, and compassion. The Mayo Clinic’s value is bringing the best quality care to its patients. The clinic’s revenue goes towards improving medical treatments and healthcare settings through research studies and continuing education programs for doctors (Sanchez-Alvarez et al., 2020). By investing in new research centers and expanding its current centers with new technology, the clinic can deliver healthcare at a lower cost while providing access to technology to help patients overcome their illnesses.
Lists of the strategies to achieve objectives include:
- Desired outcomes
- Identification of the related behaviors that are necessary to accomplish goals
- The interventions and techniques needed to achieve the outcomes
- The system(s) that supports the strategies and interventions
- Evaluation of results, staffing and resources needed, ongoing support, and evaluation methodologies
The challenge is a constant shortage of nurses at Mayo Clinic. It is because newly graduated nurses cannot retain their jobs in the local community and other parts of the country (Haddad et al., 2022). It has affected Mayo Clinic and other healthcare organizations in Florida, such as Jupiter Medical Center (JMC) and AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. According to Haddad et al. (2022), the main causes of poor retention are organizational culture (lack of autonomy and decision-making abilities, poor management whereby employees feel involved and valued, and no opportunities for great achievement).
The organization’s ethical responsibility is establishing proper lines of authority and communication flow to improve efficiency. Another ethical responsibility of the organization is to promote effective management decisions. The other ethical responsibility is to ensure effective organizational governance. According to El-Adaway and Jennings (2022), the organization’s professional responsibility is to identify specific retention concerns, such as low salaries and poor matching of nurses with work locations.
As a nurse manager, I can achieve the plan to retain new nurses by looking at the healthcare organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Looking at the strengths will enable me to consider the organizational culture of Mayo Clinic, which would allow the new nurse to work effectively and efficiently. It will also provide a sense of commitment in which good learning and development take place. According to Ginter et al. (2018), it is because the physical characteristics of the organization, like efficient workflow, workspace layouts, and staff room, promote the productivity and effectiveness of all employees. Therefore, looking at May Clinic’s strengths will provide visible and insightful educational material to all employees affected by the change process.
To retain new nurses, as a nurse manager, I will look weaknesses of MayoClinic. Mayo Clinic’s weaknesses include inefficient physical characteristics, congested, uncomfortable workspace layout, and overworked staff. These weaknesses make it positive for new nurses to look for an alternative workplace. According to Ginter et al. (2018), managers in healthcare institutes should ensure that the organization’s financial support effectively retains new nurses. They lack motivation or appreciation from the administration and their colleagues working in an unproductive environment. Therefore, this plan will help provide a conducive working environment for the new nurses.
As a manager of nurses, the next plan to achieve the retention objective of new nurses is to consider Mayo Clinic opportunities. As a manager, I will commit to the organization by investing in research and development to develop new technology that helps provide high-quality healthcare services. It is because the physical characteristics of the healthcare organization, like infrastructure, networks, and relationships with other organizations, support new nurses’ sense of belonging. El-Adaway and Jennings (2022) asserted that the healthcare organization’s financial resources are utilized effectively to provide training and support for new nurses when they join the institution and career advancement opportunities as per their potential. Therefore, these opportunities will help in enabling the new nurses to have a sense of belonging
The final plan for retaining new nurses at Mayo Clinic is to consider threats. As a manager, I will look at external threats at Mayo Clinic, such as the financial resources that are not well utilized. The financial resources will provide financial benefits, which are vital for nurses to stay on the job and use their skills effectively. Through this, the manager will be aware of the new nurses’ responsibilities and the organizational culture that does not support its employees. Thus, the plan will be implemented properly so that new nurses will not choose other areas to work instead of remaining in the institution.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Mayo Clinic has the opportunity to retain new nurses by improving their work’s physical attributes and providing financial support for training and career advancement. Through these strategies, I believe that Mayo Clinic will become more efficient and effective in retaining new nurses in their different positions. To retain new nurses, a nurse manager must have a clear understanding of the importance of the professional values of nursing. It is one’s patient-centered relationship with patients and their families, ethical responsibilities regarding patient care, skills to provide safe and humane care for ill or injured people, and respect for diversity within cultures.
References
El-Adaway, I. H., & Jennings, M. (2022). Professional and organizational leadership role in ethics management: Avoiding reliance on ethical codification and nurturing ethical culture. Science and Engineering Ethics, 28(4), 1-30. Web.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2022). Nursing shortage. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. Web.
Olson, J. E., Ryu, E., Hathcock, M. A., Gupta, R., Bublitz, J. T., Takahashi, P. Y., Bielinski, S.J., St Sauver, J.L., Meagher, K., Sharp, R.R. and Thibodeau, S.N. (2019). Characteristics and utilization of the Mayo Clinic Biobank, a clinic-based prospective collection in the USA: cohort profile. BMJ Open, 9(11). Web.
Sanchez-Alvarez, C., Sandhu, A. S., Crowson, C. S., Wetter, D. A., McKenzie, G. A., Lehman, J. S., & Makol, A. (2020). Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis: the Mayo Clinic experience (1980–2017). Rheumatology, 59(8), 1898-1905. Web.