Benefits of a Permanent Nurse Workforce & Retention Strategy

Nurses are more on-demand than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders and hospitals are now innovating new ways to meet the demand for nurses. Some challenges faced include nursing shortages and staffing challenges, permanent nurse hiring speed, and permanent nurse retention.

According to an article in the Dubai Medical Journal, COVID-19 has affected the life and health of more than 1 million people around the world. Covid has overwhelmed healthcare systems and affected nurses fighting on the frontlines, which adds to the challenge of permanent nurse retention.

A permanent nurse retention strategy includes less turnover and happier nurses, but getting to that point during the COVID-19 Crisis can seem elusive.

More Nurses Are Retiring Now Than Ever

An interesting point brought up by the Dubai Medical Journal is that the major issue facing nurses during COVID-19 is the critical nurse shortage. These market conditions make it difficult to hire and maintain high nurse retention rates.

Another added fact is that the “baby boomers” in the nursing profession are retiring.

There will officially be more permanent nurses leaving than can be replaced with recent nursing graduates. In 2017, AARP did a survey showing that the “Wave of Retiring Boomer Nurses” has arrived. There will be a nurse shortage of one million needed in the United States by 2024.

Hiring Permanent Nurses

With the added problems faced by the pandemic and looming nurse shortage, what can hospitals do to ensure the staff hired will not have a high turnover rate? In short, the answer is having a faster hiring process than your competitors.

Tactics to Increase Hiring Speed

Now to put theory into practice! To accomplish a speedier hiring process, ensure regular check-ins between managers and HR. Regarding interviewing, keep it continuous to ensure a stream of available candidates when needed, and perhaps try moving to panel interviews instead of one-on-one.

Permanent Nurse Retention

Twenty percent of new nurses quit the profession within a year, according to a recent 2014 study. How can you make sure your recent hire turns into a permanent long-term nurse? Various Factors contribute to the longevity of a nurse's stay with a current employer. These include career opportunities and mentorship, flexibility, work-life balance, burnout, and COVID-19 safety measures.

During the interview process with a prospective long-term nurse, include discussions of career advancement. This way, your prospective new permanent nurse sees growth and opportunity with your company.

A major concern for nurse safety has been the worsening of burnout during the pandemic. Schedule flexibility ranked high on the list of new nurses' benefits, which coincides with work-life balance and burnout.

COVID-19 Safety precautions have been another factor in permanent nurse retention. Nurses worry about contracting the virus and bringing it home to their families while also worrying about adequate PPE and beds for patients.

Create adequate opportunities for nurses to express their concerns, such as anonymous surveys or a suggestion box. This way, nurses can feel that their employer is listening to pragmatic changes that would make their lives better. Putting these suggestions in place is imperative for any hospital system concerned with hiring permanent nurses and long-term nurse retention.

Advantis Medical Offers Permanent Nurse Placement Roles

Advantis Medical is excited to announce we now offer permanent nurse placement roles to hospital facilities across the US at our travel nursing agency. You can be confident we use our network of resources to connect you to our professional network of highly sought-after nurses.

Working with Advantis Medical means you will have a recruiting team operating with your best interest in mind. We help improve hiring and nurse retention so you can hire your team faster and reduce burnout while creating your long-term workforce.

At Advantis Medical, we would love to answer your questions and help you find permanent long-term nurses!

Get started and connect with us today!