Introduction
Nurse retention refers to the rate at which nurses remain in their current positions. Nurses are essential members of the healthcare workforce and are necessary for ensuring quality care for patients. Nurse retention is meant to ensure that the number of nurses practicing is sufficient to meet the needs of the populace. Nurse retention requires the input of many players within the healthcare field to ensure that the numbers remain effective in meeting patient needs. Improving nurse retention includes the employment of various leadership strategies that make the work environment encouraging for the workers to remain within their positions. This essay explores the mechanisms that can be used to increase nurse retention as a mechanism of bettering the healthcare environment. These include improving staffing, choice of a preceptor, onboarding process, modification of work conditions, improved assignment of responsibilities, and improving communication channels. The final part of this essay is the conclusion which provides a summary of all the suggests and reiterates the need for nurse retention.
Nurse Retention Techniques: Adequate Staffing Ratios
One of the greatest causes of movement into other careers by nurses is the workload they are subjected to in the hospitals. Nurses are amongst the busiest members of any workforce across the globe, and this makes them easily fatigued. This is due to the inadequate numbers, and the ratio of nurses to patients is not as per the requirements of the World Health Organization. The inadequacy means that the nurses must conduct duties that should be conducted by other nurses (Cho et al., 2019). This leads to fatigue, and the work impedes the health and wellness of nurses in general. The healthcare system must address this challenge so that nurses can have sufficient time outside the workplace. The time consumed by the nursing profession, in general, is excessive, sometimes above the recommended working hours, as nurses are required to do overtime. This interferes with their personal lives and their ability to establish meaningful social connections. Employing more nurses will be critical in ensuring that this ratio is improved and more people are inspired to become part of the nursing profession.
Choice of an Effective Preceptor
A preceptor is an indispensable component of the healthcare environment, required for smooth operations. The right choice of a preceptor is crucial in ensuring new nurses maintain their positions within the workforce. The highest number of nurses deviate from their careers earlier on before they have gained effective experience that can create sustainable resilience. The role of a preceptor is to ensure that these nurses have sufficient encouragement to remain within the field during these early years (Whitehead et al., 2022). The functions of an effective preceptor should include providing encouragement and emotional support for the incoming nurses. They should also foster cooperation within the healthcare facilities to ensure the voices of new nurses are heard and their input considered in processes. The preceptors should also offer constructive feedback that is geared towards encouraging positive development in career practice, alongside a desire for an upward progression. These actions by a preceptor are likely to improve job satisfaction, foster professional relationships, and ultimately increase retention.
Bettering the Onboarding Procedures
Onboarding time within the nursing profession has recently experienced an increase since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is exhibited by the generalized confusion amongst healthcare workers and the diminished ability to meet various targets set by the healthcare management. Nurses are therefore forced to quit their careers and consider other alternatives due to the confusion and frustrations experienced. Standardizing and streamlining the onboarding process is a minimum that will ensure nurses settle into their stations faster, discharge duties better, and experience greater satisfaction from serving their people. Onboarding processes are also likely to accompany greater clarity for the other participants in the healthcare process (Kester, 2020). A generalized sense of understanding of function and integration of collaboration within the general operations are essential in the attainment of nurse retention.
Modify Current Work Conditions
Current working conditions are unfriendly to nurses and do not encourage retention, instead of leading to massive turnovers. The challenges experienced by nurses can be best described by these professionals. Nurses should be engaged in informative forums where they offer their thoughts on the current status quo and suggest modifications to the work environment, which can increase retention. Some of the overriding modifications that can better the lives of many nurses across the nation include better remuneration. Sufficient pay is part of any profession’s demand, and nurses are not an exception (Munro & Hope, 2022). The additional pay includes adjusting their salaries for things such as inflation, amongst other economic parameters. This is likely to ensure that nurses fully focus on their role within the healthcare centers instead of seeking alternative methods of making additional payments. Nurses can also benefit from overpaying benefits within the facilities if they attend to patients for periods greater than those stipulated in their employment contract. This can serve as motivation and foster dedication to the profession, eliminating turnover and increasing retention.
Improved Assignment of Responsibilities
Improved assignment of responsibilities within any healthcare facility is the height of guaranteed performance. Workers tend to perform better when each of them is aware of their contribution to the general workflow. When nurses aren’t aware of their professional responsibilities, they tend to overstep, sometimes performing the duties of other workers. This overindulgence stems from the proximity of nursing practice to the patients and the fact that they are exposed to the patients for longer (Zhang & Tu, 2020). This overzealous performance of duties makes the nursing profession appear more tedious than it is, causing detest. Nurses detest the profession based on this and seek alternatives that involve lighter workloads. Methods of assigning duties include having a duty rooster where each professional working within the workplace is aware of their responsibilities. Such awareness is crucial for ensuring that nurses enjoy their positions within the confines of their qualifications and without the extra burden of work. Retention is likely to increase, and turnovers are likely to become a past issue when nurses are well-informed of their duties.
Better Communications Channels
The role of communication within any professional organization cannot be overemphasized. Without communication, any workplace is bound to fail, and the healthcare field is not an exception. Communication channels must meet certain irreducible minimums to ensure that they fulfill the needs of the recipients of the information. Current technological advancements have made communication easier with the invention and use of various devices. There is a need for healthcare managers to ensure messages meant for nurses or other professionals arrive without any distortion. The messages must be received in an understandable manner that fosters cooperation among the nurses (Gensimore et al., 2020). The course of nurse turnover is often miscommunication, where the wishes of healthcare managers are not effectively received by their workers. Better communication will be vital in eliminating confusion, eradicating unnecessary questions around healthcare conduct, and bettering retention. The feeling of isolation by nurses will also be eliminated with better, holistic communication channels. Communication can also serve as a medium for encouraging the improvement of functions by the nurses. This entails modifying nursing practice based on the needs of management and patients, which is necessitated by the varying communications received.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the nursing profession is one of the noblest fields pursued by man. Nursing has been in existence for a significant part of human history and influenced the trajectory of healthcare over the years. The challenge of nurse turnovers has threatened to cripple the healthcare sector, and there is a need to explore mechanisms that can curb this challenge, encouraging nurse retention. Nurse retention can be attained by hiring more nurses to harmonize the ratio of nurses to patients and reduce the workload. The choice of a preceptor is essential in ensuring that new nurses have a great role model to model their career around and make better choices. The preceptor also serves to encourage retention. The onboarding process must be bettered alongside improving the current working conditions to meet new demands. The assignment of responsibilities must be harmonized to boost clarity, prevent confusion, and increase retention. Communication is an essential piece of the healthcare environment puzzle that must be addressed. Communication can be improved through the improvement of clarity and the implementation of actions that encourage inclusivity amongst all staff, encouraging nurse retention.
References
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