5 minute read
Nursing and the Great Resignation
BY MICHELE WOJCIECHOWSKI
During the Great Resignation, tons of employees have quit their jobs. Experts weigh in on its effects on the nursing field.
Throughout the COVID19 pandemic, workers began voluntarily quitting their jobs in what has been called the “Great Resignation.” Also known as the “Big Quit,” these resignations have been affecting health care in a big way. So how has it been with the nursing field?
“Earlier this year, I participated in a podcast discussing the results of Hospital IQ’s survey of over 200 bedside nurses,” says Teri Ridge, BSN, RN, Director of Clinical Solutions at Hospital IQ. “Our survey revealed that up to 90% of nurses are at least considering leaving the bedside.”
She continues with, “During the height of the pandemic, it wasn’t uncommon to hear that 30% of a hospital’s workforce had left. It’s nearly impossible to recruit, train, and onboard that many nurses in a short period of time. Managers are ending up getting pulled into scrubs and working at the bedside themselves.”
The Cause
According to the experts we interviewed, there’s not just one reason why nurses are choosing to leave; there are many.
“The biggest challenge going on in nursing right now is there is no pay equity or hour equity across the United States,” says Ann Gibbons Phalen, PhD, CRNP, NNP-BC, Dean of the Frances M. Maguire School of Nursing and Health Professions at Gwynedd Mercy University. “For example, in southern states, nurses may be paid less than nurses in California. There are no mandated work hours, which results inequity in not only pay, but also workload. This is one of the biggest contributors to the nursing shortage that we are experiencing.”
But there are other reasons as well. “The violence in the workplace has dramatically increased. This isn’t a popular topic to talk about, but it’s a huge threat to the nursing and health professions.,” she says. “The physical and psychological abuse nurses and health professionals endure on a daily basis is unlike any other profession. Patients often feel vulnerable and combine that with an increase in mental health issues that are untreated, and the result is violence.”
It’s not only violence from patients that is a problem, Phalen says. “The violence between fellow nurses and health professionals has also increased. Combine the abuse with lack of pay or hour equity, and you can see why nurses are opting to retire or leave the profession,” she says.
According to Ridge, nurses “are exhausted, physically and mentally. Nurses inherently want to help their patients and those close to them, but that means they tend to put themselves last. With the hospitals being so short-staffed, nurses will inevitably step up to fill empty shifts over and over to the point that they simply wear themselves out. And during those extra shifts, they’re also dealing with many more patients than is typical, which creates extra burden.”
Ridge says that she hears from nurses that they are exhausted, frustrated, and feeling misunderstood or unheard. “Patients are more demanding than ever before, with some reaching the point of becoming physically or verbally abusive. And, it doesn’t seem like an end is in sight,” she says. “Nurses are used to carrying a burden, but now they are seeing their professional burden affect their family and personal relationships, which is changing the equation for many of them.”
Right now, the number of nurses resigning is crippling the workforce, says Ridge. Because hospitals can’t hire more nurses as fast as they are leaving, they are relying on contract staff and travel nurses. She explains that this isn’t sustainable because “hospital leaders are already calling for rate caps from travel agencies.”
Regarding clinical adjunct faculty, this becomes a Catch22. “I rely on nurses at our clinical sites to serves as clinical adjunct faculty and mentor our students. If nurses at our clinical hospitals and other health care systems are overworked, understaffed, and underpaid, they don’t have the bandwidth to also serve as clinical adjunct faculty members,” Phalen explains. “If a nursing program doesn’t have sufficient adjunct preceptors and clinical sites for students to get the hands-on learning that is require to become a registered nurse, then institutions won’t be able to accept and graduate the number of quality nurses needed to replenish those who have left the industry.”
What can employers do to stop the Great Resignation in nursing? “Employers across the nation have to stop relying on band aids and quick fixes, and instead focus on the core issues—such as inadequate staffing models and flexibility, pay equity, and poor working conditions,” says Phalen. “The health of the nation and the people we serve are severely at risk, with populations in underserved areas at the greatest risk. Like other professions, nurses need to feel valued. The system needs to be fixed if we want to provide health equity and quality care to all of our nation’s problems.”
Ridge says, “There needs to be open dialogue between leadership and frontline staff.
Nurses need to be heard, voice their frustrations, and talk about why they are leaving and what it would take for them to stay. Let’s be honest—money is a huge factor. But it’s far from the only factor. For many nurses, it’s not even number one. It’s about job satisfaction, feeling good about the care they provide, and feeling appreciated and understood.”
Michele Wojciechowski is a national award-winning freelance writer based in Baltimore, Maryland. She loves writing about the nursing field but comes close to fainting when she actually sees blood. She’s also author of the humor book, Next Time I Move, They’ll Carry Me Out in a Box.
