Essential strategies to support nurse recruitment and retention

Recruiting and retaining nurses is top of mind for today’s nurse leaders.

Burnout and lack of job satisfaction are taking their toll — 64% of nurses are stressed and 57% are exhausted. And almost 1 in 5 nurses leave their first job within the first year.¹ When you consider the job struggles and high turnover rate alongside the average cost of turnover for a staff RN in 2023 ($52,350)², the impact is clear. Many healthcare organizations are strengthening efforts to support and encourage nurses throughout their career journeys. They’re finding that building a culture that attracts and keeps nurses depends on helping them feel valued, managing conditions that contribute to workplace stress, and providing clear avenues for growth. Let’s look at how a multifaceted approach can make a real difference. Elsevier hosted a virtual roundtable in which five nurse leaders and Elsevier’s clinical nurse executive, Tammy Purcell, MSN, RNCOB, shared their challenges, experiences, and strategies for nurse recruitment and retention.

Recruitment and orientation

By 2025, there will be a shortage of 78,610 RNs.⁴ Strong hiring strategies are needed to help organizations curtail the nursing shortage today and into the future. Nurse leaders revealed during the roundtable what they are dealing with as the biggest challenges in recruitment and orientation, including:

• Competitive hiring incentives

• Limited pools of candidates

• Lack of hands-on experience in new graduate nurses

• New grads bypassing residency/orientation to go directly into travel nursing

• Underdeveloped communication skills in novice nurses

5 strategies for strong recruitment

To recruit new and experienced nurses, focus on what they are seeking in their careers while showcasing the unique opportunities and benefits your organization offers.

• Enhance clinical skills: Nurses benefit greatly from evidence-based tools, ensuring quality patient care. Empowering them involves timely access to clinical skills, reliable information, and personalized education. These resources enhance nurses' ability to provide top-notch care.

• Supportive nurse residency: New graduate nurses, with limited clinical experience and heightened anxieties, benefit from a nurse residency program during hiring and orientation. This initiative offers crucial confidence-building through essential clinical exposure opportunities.

• Strong Preceptor Mentorships: Experienced preceptors offer essential guidance, professionally and personally, during onboarding. This vital relationship enables preceptees to collaborate with empathetic colleagues, receive feedback, and get answers to their questions.

Learn about the 2 additional recruitment strategies, as well as retention and leadership growth in the full roundtable discussion:

_{1. Thew, J. Want to Keep Nurses at the Bedside? Here’s How. HealthLeaders. March 27, 2019. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/want-keep-nurses-bedside-heres-how}

_{2. 2023 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report. NSI Nursing Solutions, March 2023. https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/Documents/Library/NSI_National_Health_Care_Retention_Report.pdf}

_{3. American Nurses Foundation, Pulse on the Nation’s Nurses Survey Series: Annual Assessment Survey, November 2022. https://www.nursingworld.org/~48fb88/contentassets/23d4f79cea6b4f67ae24714de11783e9/anf-impact-assessment-third-year_v5.pdf}

_{4. Nurse Workforce Projections, 2020-2035, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, November 2022. https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/Nursing-Workforce-Projections-Factsheet.pdf}

_{5. American Nurses Foundation, Three-Year Annual Assessment Survey: Nurses Need Increased Support from Their Employer January 24, 2023. https://www.nursingworld.org/~48fb88/contentassets/23d4f79cea6b4f67ae24714de11783e9/anf-impact-assessment-third-year_v5.pdf}