Effective retention strategies are required to mitigate the international nursing shortage. Nurse retention is associated with high job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceived manager support, and low burnout rates (Redknap, Twigg, Rock, & Towell, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to describe a project involving the use of onboarding, mentoring, and orientation as strategies to increase nurse retention.
Statement of Need
The chosen organization is a medium community hospital. The institution has a bed capacity of 100 patients and six departments. There has been a shortage of nurses in the facility due to a high nurse turnover rate over the years. This issue has harmed the organization’s capacity to meet patients’ needs and provide quality care. The high rate of hiring and firing is attributed to factors that influence the well-being of nurses, for example, the work environment. Strong predictors of nurse turnover include age, overall job satisfaction, and years of employment (Nei, Snyder, & Litwiller, 2015). Therefore, nurses’ immediate environment must be modified to minimize their stress levels and enhance retention.
Goals and Objectives of the Project
The overall goal of the project is to improve nurse retention. The first specific objective is to perform nurse onboarding and determine its impact on nurse retention, whereas the second objective is to conduct nurse orientation and its consequences on retention. The third purpose of the project is to ascertain the effect of mentoring on nurse retention.
Performance
The measurable performance expectation of the project plan is to determine how onboarding, mentoring, and orientation enhances nurse retention. These three interventions are services that will be offered to the nurse workforce to achieve the project objective. The specific performance measure that will be documented is nurse turnover within twelve months. Therefore, the anticipated duration of the project is one year. These interventions are expected to cost the hospital approximately $10,000 during the lifetime of the project. However, cost savings of $100,000 are projected in terms of patient-hours gained due to reduced nurse turnover.
Stakeholder and Project Requirements
The project stakeholders are nurses, the hospital’s administration, and patients. Nurses require a conducive work environment to develop a sense of ownership and improve their productivity. The hospital administration needs a steady nurse workforce to ensure that patients’ needs are met in a timely way. Conversely, patients expect quality healthcare services from the hospital and its employees.
Project Scope Development
The project will implement onboarding, mentoring, and orientation to increase nurse retention within a year. Onboarding entails putting special structures in place to acclimatize new employees and make them feel like part of a caring team. Employee onboarding is a crucial process that all organizations should implement to ensure that newly hired nurses not only feel comfortable but also become content and productive. This process can be achieved by enhancing staff motivation and appreciating employees’ efforts.
Orientation takes place in the initial stages of new employee assimilation and socialization in an institution. Its key goals are to achieve employee commitment, minimize anxiety, and help the worker to comprehend the organization’s expectations. This process also allows staff members to express their expectations of the organization.
Nursing is a profession that requires skilled employees. Mentoring helps attract and retain high-potential employees. When mentoring is done correctly, it shapes an organization’s culture, closes generational gaps, and ensures the retention of qualified nurses, thereby improving the quality of health services provided (Sheppard-Law, Curtis, Bancroft, Smith, & Fernandez, 2018).
Conclusion
The healthcare industry is in a constant state of flux, which places undue pressure on nurses and other healthcare providers. Unmanaged stress leads to job dissatisfaction, early termination, and high nurse turnover rates. Therefore, healthcare organizations should embrace strategies to improve retention. In this project, onboarding, mentoring, and orientation are expected to improve nurse retention.
References
Nei, D., Snyder, L. A., & Litwiller, B. J. (2015). Promoting retention of nurses: A meta-analytic examination of causes of nurse turnover. Health Care Management Review, 40(3), 237-253.
Redknap, R., Twigg, D., Rock, D., & Towell, A. (2015). Nursing practice environment: A strategy for mental health nurse retention? International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 24(3), 262-271.
Sheppard-Law, S., Curtis, S., Bancroft, J., Smith, W., & Fernandez, R. (2018). Novice clinical nurse educator’s experience of a self-directed learning, education and mentoring program: A qualitative study. Contemporary Nurse, 54(2), 208-219.