This week, I’ll focus on a couple of articles that deal with nurse staffing issues, both hospital based solutions and legislative solutions. Today, let’s look at one Wichita, Kansas hospital has instituted several interesting programs to retain and attract nurses.

Read the whole article here.

The program in this hospital is based on offering the nurses new opportunities to specialize in different treatment and care areas.  An example cited is the creation of an IV team.  Nurses who do nothing but start and monitor IV lines in the facility, as well as start specialized IV access points like PICC lines.  By having a specialized team for this task, nurses are freed up to take care of other patient needs.

The hospital also added to the “hospitality team,” techs and other non-nursing staff that assist with patient care by performing non-nursing duties.  In some areas, the hospital also implemented the use of remote monitoring of patients from a central location.  These programs gave nurses time to perform their dedicated nursing duties without getting bogged down with tasks that can be handled by unlicensed staff.

Finally, the administration addressed the causes of nurse turnover including job dissatisfaction, wages, and work environment.  Money was found in the budget to add to weekend and overtime compensation.  Nurses were included more actively in planning of hospital policies and programs.  Opportunities for education were added for career change or advancement.

The best part of this hospital’s commitment to improving nurse staffing on a long term basis was their response to area nursing schools that requested more clinical time for their students.  Arrangements were made to include more evening and weekend hours, as well as improving support for the student’s education in the various areas of the hospital by encouraging staff involvement in their rotations.

The bottom line effect of these programs is clear to the administrators of the hospital.  Turnover of nurses has dropped from 20% to 17%, meaning less time spent precepting new nurses, and less money spent on advertising for and hiring new nurses.  The net effects need to be fully examined in each facility but this article can go a long way to countering administrators’ claims of feasibility or effectiveness.  One hospital has proved them wrong.