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Learn MoreA nationwide nursing shortage has colleges and universities ramping up their programs in hopes of filling the need. And while they are succeeding in recruiting nursing students and producing graduates, the potential for burnout exists, especially during those first crucial years on the job. Some studies are showing a new-nurse turnover rate as high as 18 percent in the first year, and upwards of 30 percent in the second.
To combat that, schools are focusing on how their nursing students see life after graduation, rather than just on the necessary coursework and training a degree program entails. The goal, says Belmont University’s Dr. Cathy Taylor, is to understand what a new nurse needs to succeed beyond a strong grasp of nursing fundamentals. What has turned up is a strong desire for work-life balance.
“If you look at some of the information we get, in feedback from our graduates, they talk about realistic expectations as they step into the workplace but also how it is much harder than they expected. The work is just harder,” Taylor says, adding that Belmont has begun to focus on the issue of compassionate self-care for caregivers. “We think that is going to grow to be even more important over time, not just for nurses but for the entire healthcare team. We have a lot of work to do associated with not just creating those realistic expectation on our end and working more closely with our clinical partners to make sure that those are as realistic as we can make them, but also helping our students and graduates with organization skills that help them balance the demands of the workplace.”
Today’s students have unique strengths, challenges
Nursing schools will get an assist from the students themselves, Taylor notes, thanks to a tech-oriented mindset that previous generations didn’t have.
“It’s really awe-inspiring sometimes, the way they approach technology and just expect it to work in ways some of us wouldn't even dream about,” she explains. “They don’t have a memory of a world without Google and Wikipedia.”
However, that can be a double-edged sword A default to technology to solve problems and compete work tasks sometimes leads to a lack of conversational skills, which nursing schools will need to tackle to ensure a smooth post-graduate integration to a healthcare environment.
“Vital to safe, compassionate patient care is the skills associated with intentional listening and processing, and being able to communicate at a number of different levels,” Taylor says. “We have to help them recognize that. They are the social media generation, and that’s wonderful in many ways, but we have to focus on patient confidentiality and perhaps the darker side of that connectivity. We have to do that early and often to help them reinforce the differences and appropriate use of media.”
Roadmap forward requires strategic partnerships
Going forward, nursing schools and nurse educators will need to:
Most importantly, more opportunities for real-time learning need to be created so that nursing students get a sense of how difficult and demanding the job can be.
“We’re all in a fairly solid state of constant adaptation today, but I think we can do better with bridging the gaps between classroom and practice,” Taylor says. “Graduates need to enter the workforce with a solid skill set, but they also need to be more knowledgeable about real work. All new health professionals need some time for residency training and nursing is no different.”
About Cathy Taylor
Cathy R. Taylor, DrPH, MSN, RN, is dean and professor, Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences and Nursing at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She has held faculty and administrative positions with the Tennessee Department of Health, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Alvin C. York VAMC, and several Tennessee hospitals. She has consulted with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as China’s Ministry of Health.
This blog post is taken from a HealthStream Second Opinions Podcast that was recorded recently. To hear Dr. Taylor’s full discussion, link to her podcast here.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
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