Turns out, nurses value better working conditions and a greater say in patient care over financial incentives, according to a Washington Post story.
The awe-inspiring bonuses and other impressive incentives from the recruitment craze of recent years, spurred by a national nursing shortage, are starting to settle in favor of the quieter, but more favorable conditions that actually keep nurses happy.
The hard truth:
Five years ago, hospitals waged intense bidding wars to fill nursing vacancies, luring nurses with huge signing bonuses and even sport-utility vehicles and vacations to the Bahamas. Those efforts often only served to exacerbate turnover, spurring nurses to remain in jobs just long enough to claim the prizes before moving to other hospitals with better incentives.
As it turns out, many nurses want better working conditions more than they do extra money. Hospitals now are responding by introducing technology to dramatically reduce paperwork, offering more flexible hours, reducing caseloads, paying for advanced training and giving them more authority.
2 Comments
I think a lot of people go into nursing because they want to help people. In order to do a better job of that they need better conditions – not just more money.
There is also a question of malpractice. If overwork leads to mistakes a nurse might be lieble.
Duh! More pay is great, but if a nurse isn’t happy or satisfied with his/her job, they’ll move on if they can. Personally, I took a pay cut for better hours and a better schedule. I have much less stress now, and more control over what I do. I still work occasionally at my old job and enjoy doing “hospital” things again, but after every shift I’m thankful for my new job and the better situation I have.
There were some days at the hospital when I was “earning” $35-40 an hour because of differentials, holidays, etc; but I usually still felt underpaid because of all the stress, long days, physical labor, paperwork, and dealing with difficult doctors, patients, and families.
Health care institutions have spent millions to figure out how to attract and keep happy, competent nurses. The answer doesn’t lie completely in bonuses and monetary incentives. Nurses usually want to feel that what they do is making a positive difference for someone, and that their job has meaning, value, and purpose. Fostering an institutional culture where the nurse has value and respect beyond a warm body with a license is very difficult to do. It’s not something you can just throw money at to accomplish.
Reducing paperwork is great, but extremely difficult to do in today’s legal world. Reducing caseload is very important for happy nurses and happy patients. In the end, it is a combination of things that will make for satisfied nurses and other health care professionals, as well as better health care for patients. If the health care industry can’t make some progress in these areas, they will continue to have problems with staffing.