Over the past three years, our nurse vacancy rate has hovered around 20%, this is matched by our nursing turnover rates as well. In this memo, I will describe the steps our organization is take to reduce these rates and increase job satisfaction among our nursing staff.
As an initial step to help retain and recruit nurses, we will begin offering a loan forgiveness and tuition reimbursement program. This program will cover a portion of nursing staff school loans in order to encourage applicants to join our organization. Current staff will be eligible for tis benefit as well, application for loan forgiveness and tuition reimbursement can be found in the HR offices.
We will also be implementing a new flexible scheduling system for our nursing
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The staffing ratios have notoriously been high for all floors. We are finalizing the measurements we have been conducting and will be implementing the new staffing ratios as soon as possible. It is our hope that this will help to decrease burnout and the daily stress our nursing staff encounters due to our high staffing ratios. This will be a notable challenge due to our already high vacancy rate.
In order to bring this percentage down we will be executing a new nurse training system. All new nurses hired into our organization will be matched with an experienced and tenured nurse here. Our aim for this initiative is to help guide new and experienced nurses alike to align with our company culture quickly and effectively. Nurses who wish to participate in this program are encouraged to apply. When a nurse is being “shadowed” by a new hire they will receive a differential in pay.
Additionally, our performance appraisal system will be overhauled. The new system will involve a performance appraisal every 90-days with monthly one-on-one meetings with supervisors. The 90-day appraisals are intended to give more directed consultation with targeted measures for improvement and successes; while the monthly one-on-one’s will be for feedback from nurses regarding any issues or concerns within their units or the organization as a whole