JUNE - JULY 2022
Nurses not monoliths are the backbone of healthcare system A recent report by global management consultants McKinsey & Company on why nurses want to leave contains valuable lessons for New Zealand. It’s not all about money
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ew Zealand politicians continue to prevaricate on nursing needs and concentrate on creating government-controlled health monoliths. “They pay little more than lip service to the actions they need to undertake to keep our nurses at home, safe and happy in their vital tasks,” says Industrial Safety News publisher Mike Bishara. Once cynically charged expressions are looking less and less like harbingers of doom and more and more like accurate assessments of the future, he says. “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt, a ravaged planet and a failed health system. “A start in working on a 52 safetynews.co.nz
solution to the last item is not rocket science – we need to upgrade our nurses’ skill base, attract them here and keep them here. Few would question that they are the key for decades to come to ensure the effective implementation of patient care plus medical and technological advances. “We need to send a strong wake up call to our moribund immigration department to ditch its elitist immigration policies and get nurses to choose New Zealand in the face of intense global pressure for their services. This can’t wait for another ‘ministerial consultation’ with unnamed sources,” says Bishara. The McKinsey survey found that, while compensation and a view of total
monetary rewards are important for those who plan to stay in their jobs, they also cited reasons that go beyond salary. Factors such as feeling engaged by work, doing meaningful work, and maintaining good health were the top drivers in surveyed nurses’ decisions to stay in the profession. The survey asked frontline nurses if they want to stay in their current role. Between 28 and 38 percent indicated they were likely to leave their current role in direct patient care in the next year. The lesson for New Zealand lies in the survey findings which found “a striking degree of consistency around how nurses feel in their roles today, despite
the different healthcare systems and delivery networks in each of the six countries” they surveyed. “Sorry, no easy escape route there for politicians about different needs for different countries,” says Bishara. “The survey covered countries with diverse economies and cultures -- Brazil, Singapore , Japan, UK, France and the US. One thing is becoming clear, the survey found. A substantial population of nurses are expressing a desire to leave direct patient care which means a growing risk of nursing shortages around the world. McKinsey estimates, for example, that in the United States there may be a shortage of between 200,000 to 450,000 nurses (10 to 20 percent) by 2025. “This would seem a cost-effective opportunity for New Zealand to offer jaded and weary nurses a chance to refresh themselves and their careers by immigrating to New Zealand,” says Bishara. The report says that by learning and sharing promising paths forward across nations, stakeholders could support their clinical workforce and look to solve what has become a consequential global problem. Positive leadership initiatives—such as directors rounding once a week to show support—have been correlated in studies with higher retention, reduced medical errors and administrative efficiency. The report outlines steps employers could consider in an effort to provide nurses with better support. Nurses cited lack of recognition and being overworked and understaffed as contributing factors in their decision to leave direct patient care.
