Looking Into Retention Strategies Matrix

Retention Strategy

Retention Strategies Matrix

Specialty Area: My home health organization located in San Diego, CA, has been having difficulty in staff retention, but specifically, with RN Case Managers. These RN Case Managers work in the home health agency I supervise and see patients in the community. Since the opening of this home health agency in 2003, the turnover rates among the nurses' rates have increased, and therefore, retention rate decreased to an all-time low of 53%.

Type of retention strategy

Benefits of using this strategies

Challenges of using this strategy

Evidence-based Reference

Enhancing the approaches and techniques used to manage nurses once they are employed

Recognizing and rewarding nursing performances gives the RNs a sense of being valued at the organization. This not only improves their satisfaction levels, but also their work performances. In creating teamwork, there is improved management of work stress and any issues with individual performances are addressed immediately. Another added advantage is that the nurses are able to deal with the emotionally strenuous nature of their jobs. Nurses attain a sense of independence and control over their work, which improves their performance (Longo, 2010).

The major challenge with this retention strategy is that it necessitates the formation of completely new programs or procedures. At certain instances, this might require an organization to undertake an aspect not done before, which increases the level of risk. The leading challenge to refining how nurses are managed is attaining managers to essentially transform their behavior. However, altering behavior is hard (Longo, 2010).

Longo, J. (2010). Combating disruptive behaviors: Strategies to promote a healthy work environment. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15(1).

Increasing the number of freshly graduated nurses in the hiring groups, and at the same time, establishing orientation programs for such nurses.

The benefits of this retention strategy are that: first off, the orientation programs have a constructive impact on the confidence of the new RNs in caring for patients. In addition, it increases their competencies, for example, critical-thinking skills in a clinical setting, and enhances their knowledge in overall. The benefit in undertaking this is that it encourages the RNs to stay and play a part in a supportive system (Park and Jones, 2010).

The challenges encompassing this retention strategy include: the costs incurred by the health care organization in increasing the number of hires. Increased number of graduate hires implies increased expenditures in terms of salaries. Another challenge includes the time resources invested in teaching the new RNs rather than investing in advanced beginners (Park and Jones, 2010).

Park, M., & Jones, C. B. (2010). A retention strategy for newly graduated nurses: an integrative review of orientation programs. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 26(4), 142-149.

Screening and hiring employees with the right fit in the organization

This ensures that the employees hired will be in alignment with the organizational culture, and therefore, reducing the turnover rates.

Another benefit is that screening of the potential RN recruits is a comparatively costly way of reducing avoidable turnover (Rush et al., 2013).

One of the challenges is that in normal occasions, there are usually a limited number of qualified candidates. Screening them leaves the organization with close to no other options. More so, these selection measures are never precise. Another challenge of this retention strategy is that it only influences turnover of nurses who have not yet been employed. It has no impact whatsoever on the turnover rates of nurses who are already hired by the health care organization (Rush et al., 2013).

Rush, K. L., Adamack, M., Gordon, J., Lilly, M., & Janke, R. (2013). Best practices of formal new graduate nurse transition programs: an integrative review. International journal of nursing studies, 50(3), 345-356.

Investing in better-quality nursing work environments is a significant strategy to retain nurses.