Nursing Administration: Staffing Strategies for Acute Care Units

Recruitment Strategies for Acute Care Nursing Units

The combined effect of the nursing shortage crisis and higher patient acuity has become a crucial concern for nursing management teams, largely because of the challenge of balancing patient needs with staffing needs. Nurse executives attribute the shortage partly to the growing number of opportunities available to women outside the healthcare industry and to inadequate compensation for the work nurses perform. Diverse recruitment strategies can be employed to help reverse this trend.

Local initiatives may include collaborating with nursing schools as primary sites for clinical rotations, offering referral bonuses, and establishing residency programs. Additional local strategies involve hiring new graduate nurses, encouraging nurses to visit high schools to boost students' interest in the field, and recruiting more male nurses. Internal strategies include paying acute care nurses premium wages for working additional hours, providing annual bonuses tied to employment longevity, and offering scholarship programs and tuition reimbursement for nurses (Hamlin, Davies, & Richardson-Tench, 2009).

Staff Nurse Job Description and Competencies

Competencies and Responsibilities in Acute Care:

Environment and Duties:

Interview Questions for Nurse Candidates

Retention Strategies for Acute Care Nurses

The hospital will implement magnet hospital features to help retain nurses currently practicing in the acute care department. The work environment will be shaped in accordance with magnet principles, which provide access to supporting infrastructures that empower the nursing role. Eliminating overly rigid rules, fostering a work environment that supports professional accountability, and allowing nurses the flexibility to exercise professional judgment in resolving patient care issues will encourage an autonomous practice atmosphere. Shared governance and participatory management models are two constructive strategies for distributing formal authority, supporting autonomous work teams, and enabling nurses to exercise greater control over their work environments (Hamlin, Davies, & Richardson-Tench, 2009).

Organizational efforts that enhance nurses' access to information, opportunity, and resources can also empower staff and increase job satisfaction. Providing access to opportunity structures can be achieved by offering advancement positions, assigning nurses additional responsibilities that challenge their creativity, and implementing clinical ladder programs. Incorporating nurses into unit committees and hospital-wide task forces that span all managerial levels and departments gives them added responsibilities and opportunities to acquire new skills. Nurse mentors can further support retention by encouraging relationships outside the hospital — for example, by financially supporting nurses' participation in community organizations and attendance at professional conferences (Brown, 2012).

Improved access to information for nurses will be achieved through both informal and formal communication channels between the management team and nursing staff. Regularly scheduled staff meetings with nursing managers will ensure a consistent exchange of information; supervisors who share information proactively build a foundation of trust and collaboration. Participatory management strategies can also expand communication between nurses and managers. Ensuring adequate access to resources is critical to expanding job satisfaction and empowering nurses, and can be achieved through participatory management approaches in which acute care nurses can influence decisions about securing equipment, supplies, and support services (Brown, 2012).

Maintaining the integrity of the nurse-patient relationship is an essential element of any acute care retention strategy. Although it is challenging to achieve in today's cost-conscious healthcare environment, appropriate nurse staffing levels are important in determining the quality of care nurses provide, which in turn affects organizational outcomes (Dickson & Flynn, 2008). This approach requires the business acumen of the nurse manager to be executed effectively. Ensuring that acute care nurses have adequate supplies to perform their jobs competently is another essential component of retention. Given the financial constraints limiting available resources and supplies, nurse managers must employ practical and innovative strategies to meet staffing needs.

References

Brown, M. (2012). Nursing management: Issues and ideas. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers.

Dickson, G. L., & Flynn, L. (2008). Nursing policy research: Turning evidence-based research into health policy. New York: Springer Publishing.

Hamlin, L., Davies, M., & Richardson-Tench, M. (2009). Perioperative nursing: An introductory text. Chatswood, N.S.W.: Elsevier Australia.

Huston, C. J. (2014). Professional issues in nursing: Challenges & opportunities. Baltimore, MD: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2009). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.