Winning back nurses: 3 ways to tackle the staffing shortage

The numbers are stunning. More than 100,000 nurses have left the profession since the COVID pandemic — and another 600,000 say they intend to leave by 2027 due to stress, burnout, and retirement.

So, what can healthcare organizations do to attract them back to the profession – and the bedside? Here are a few tactics to consider.

Provide flexible scheduling options: There are a variety of systems that allow nurses to self-select their shifts. When I speak to nurses, they want the flexibility to build their schedules around their lives and don’t want to always commit to a full-time schedule. Can you utilize these nurses to fill gaps in your schedule instead of travelers or overtime for current nurses, which eventually leads to burnout? One system to look at is MyShift, which will allow your PRN staff or other nurses in the area to fill the holes in your schedule.

Shore up training to build skills: Many nurses who graduated during the pandemic did not have as much clinical time and may not feel as comfortable. Offer skills courses or “return to nursing” classes to help people return to the profession and feel confident doing it.

Actively ask people to return: Take a closer look at those who left your organization — and why they left. Did they leave to stay home with a child or leave the profession altogether? Reach out. Ask them to come back with offers of flexible scheduling, skill updates, and other support to make the return to nursing easy and rewarding. Most importantly, remind them why they chose the profession and what they’ll get out of it if they return on their terms.

With the nursing (and healthcare) staffing shortages projected to continue as baby boomers retire and others make career changes based on work-life choices and burnout, the pressure to keep and upskill current staff will only increase. What are you doing to keep nurses engaged and on board?