Nursing Shortage And Turnover Case Study

Nursing shortage and turnover is a continuous struggle throughout health care facilities. This in turn affects the quality of patient care and the workload of other nurses, causing an increase in nursing burnout. Nursing shortage occurs when there is a smaller amount of nurses who are employed at the time when the demand for them is drastically higher, where turnover is defined as the loss of an employee due to any number of reasons (Huber, 2010). Numerous studies have been done and it has been found that with the baby boomers aging and the increased responsibilities/duties of nurses throughout healthcare, the need for nurses will continue to grow. It is projected by 2025 the nursing shortage will be up to 260,000 jobs for RN’s (AACN, 2014).
This paper will describe the different approaches of nursing leaders and managers when faced with shortages and turnovers, as well as the writer’s personal and professional philosophy of how to overcome this continue struggle within the healthcare industry. It has been noted that nursing shortages and high turnover rates go hand in hand. When health care facilities are short staffed and don’t have adequate amount of nurses, managers are forced to increase patient to nurse ratios, staff nurses working longer hours and extra shifts which places an increased work and stress load on staff nurses. This then leads to faster burnout and higher turnover rates or nurses completely changing their profession. While the work environment plays a big role in this situation, the problem begins much sooner than that such as nursing school. Not only is the struggle having an adequate number of qualified staff to teach but also it was found that in 2008 only 78,000 students out of the 320,000 that applied to nursing school actually graduated and of those who graduated only 23% of them are currently working (Ferrell, James, & Holland Jr., 2014). Studies also show that of all the students who graduate nursing school and begin working as nurses, after two years 50% of them will leave their first position or the profession all together (Ferrell, James, & Holland Jr., 2014). When it comes to retaining current nursing staff as well as hiring new nurses, nursing leaders/managers play a big role in this. While leaders and managers strive to achieve the same goals, they go about it in different ways. Leaders influence others to achieve a goal while a manager makes decisions and set policies and procedures in place to achieve the same goal (Huber, 2010). While the nurse leader influences staff as well as lead by example, this allows a sense of teamwork to develop amongst the staff. When this teamwork is developed nurses will recognize when another nurse’s workload is particularly high one day or has highly acute patients and lend a helping hand to help reduce the burden and stress on that nurse. Nursing leaders are also close with the other nurses and hear their concerns, frustration and ideas and therefore can pass it along to their managers. Not only will leaders help foster these better work environments and help decrease nursing turnover rates but they also help create other leaders by being a leader their self. Nursing managers are in charge of hiring nursing staff as well as ensuring staff retention.
This is done by ensuring that new nurses have adequate training and orientation to their work environment so that they don’t feel overwhelmed. Managers should also make sure staff has access to continuing education and training programs and also encourage their staff to further their knowledge and skills. Managers can do this by making sure these resources are available to their staff as well as directing them on the proper steps for tuition reimbursement. Not only will this help with nursing shortage and turnover rates, but allowing flexible scheduling also helps keep staff happy and they are more likely to cover extra shifts when the need arises. Managers also need to be able to communicate well with their staff so that they are aware of what is going on within their department and any concerns staff may
have. The writer’s personal and professional approach to nursing shortages and turnover rate is to ensure that facilities are adequately staffed.
By ensuring that a facility is adequately staffed workload, stress and they physical and mental demand on staff is decrease. Also it will allow for flexibility in staff schedules. This in turn will allow nurses to continue their education and ultimately allow for more qualified individuals to teach at nursing schools across the country which would allow for bigger/more classes availability in nursing schools. Most importantly the writer believes that all managers and leaders should work together to help ensure that the staff’s needs and concerns are heard and the right steps are taken because this will provide a sense of team work throughout the entire health care facility. Health care facilities also need to ensure that nursing staff receives competitive pay as well as benefits to help prevent their staff from looking for a different job that offer these things as many times this is one of the deciding factors on where an individual chooses to work. It is also important to show staff appreciation within the workplace as it serves as motivation for staff to strive to better their selves and provide the best possible care to their
patient’s.
In conclusion, nurse managers and leaders need to work together with each other as well as the other managers and leaders within the healthcare industry to help decrease turnover rates and nursing shortages. By collaborating and involving floor staff on decisions, turnover rates will decrease because they will be involved in the decisions that affect them and their patients. By having the involvement of floor nurses in decisions, upper management will be able to resolve the reasons or situations that result in nurses leaving their job or quitting the profession all together. Lastly, communication will continue to play a key role in the battle against nursing shortage and turnover rates.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing | Nursing Shortage. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
Ferrell, N., James, D., & Holland Jr., C. A. (2014). The Nursing Shortage: Exploring the Situation and Solutions | Minority Nurse. Retrieved from http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/nursing-shortage-exploring-situation-and-solutions

Huber, D. (2010), Leadership and Nursing Care Management, (4th ed.), Maryland Hts, MO: Saunders Elsevier