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HealthStream 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 ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn 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 ProductsMake 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 ProductsCreate engaging and impactful learning experiences that meet the unique needs of your acute care staff.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreNurse turnover rates have been rising at an alarming pace over the past few years and that has prompted many hospitals to devise new strategies for nurse retention.
One of the most effective strategies to mitigate high nurse turnover is implementing a self-scheduling system for the nursing staff. Under this model, nurses can view the team’s schedule in real-time and either pick up or swap shifts with their coworkers as needed. This increased ownership over work can lead to lower rates of burnout and better job satisfaction, thereby reducing turnover.
Managing nurse turnover is about creating a better work environment that provides nurses with adequate work life balance while also protecting the quality of patient care. Nurses are leaving their jobs because they feel overworked, burnt out and dissatisfied, and as a result, thousands of positions across the country remain unfilled.
To boost nurse retention, hospital leaders must explore new workplace arrangements to meet the needs of these essential healthcare workers. Nurses have a desire for greater flexibility and autonomy in their professional lives. Self-scheduling allows them to choose shifts that best suit their schedule and helps them avoid working too many hours. With a self-scheduling system in place, there is also a greater opportunity for nurse management to create a supportive work environment where nurses feel that their health and well-being is a priority. Given these reasons, self-scheduling is a nurse retention strategy that healthcare organizations need to consider.
As facilities prepare to integrate new solutions to reduce high nurse turnover, it is important for hospital leadership and nurse management to first understand how things reached this point.
It is also necessary to recognize that the nursing shortage existed long before COVID-19. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania validated this with data they published in the Journal of Nursing Regulation in April 2022. The team analyzed survey data they collected from 33,462 registered nurses (RNs) in New York and Illinois between December 2019 and February 2020. Their findings revealed that during that period more than 40% of RNs reported high burnout and one in five planned to leave their employer within one year. Furthermore, more than half (56%) of RNs reported not having enough staff to get their work done and 31% of hospital RNs gave their hospital an unfavorable patient safety rating. This evidence begins to shed light on some of the reasons for high nurse turnover rates.
Meanwhile, a study published post-pandemic in 2023 in JAMA revealed that nearly half of all nurses (47%) reported burnout in 2021. The same report indicated that 26% of nurses rated their hospitals unfavorably on patient safety and 34% reported having a poor work environment.
Nursing staff turnover is a complex issue with several contributing factors. In March 2022, the American Nurses Foundation and the American Nurses Association released findings from a survey in which they found that 52% of nurses were considering leaving their current position due primarily to insufficient staffing, work negatively affecting their health and well-being, and the inability to deliver quality care.
A separate survey conducted in January 2023 by AMN Healthcare among 18,226 staff, travel, and per diem nurses indicated that nurses were leaving the profession to retire early or for another occupation because of employer-related issues, career dissatisfaction, mental health and emotional well-being and the nursing shortage.
Senior leaders can use a variety of methods to address these issues to improve nurse retention. Every approach should improve the workplace environment.
“Organizations with healthy work environments are better able to recruit and retain nurses and to deliver better patient outcomes and satisfaction,” said authors of a 2022 study in the American Journal of Critical Care. “Healthy work environments enable nurses to practice in a manner that maximizes their contributions to patient and family outcomes and that has broad benefits not only for nursing and patients, but for all members of the health care team.”
Healthcare organizations need to create a work environment that allows nurses to organize their shifts around personal life commitments so they can enjoy a more balanced lifestyle. This type of environment can be achieved with a self-scheduling model. Providing nurses with self-scheduling capabilities gives them the autonomy to plan their schedule, which can include self-care activities that help them re-energize mentally, emotionally and physically. Self-scheduling also creates an environment where nurse managers can evenly distribute the workload among staff so they can avoid burnout.
“Organizations must be creative in meeting the needs of nurses while providing the best and safest care to the patients,” wrote authors from a report published in StatPearls. “An environment that empowers and motivates nurses is necessary to rejuvenate and sustain the nursing workforce.”
ShiftWizard by HealthStream(R) has a tool to create a healthy work environment that can raise nurse retention. Whether the facility is a smaller healthcare setup, a single department, a team of nurses, or an entire hospital system, ShiftWizard can help the nurse leadership team improve staff satisfaction, nurse well-being, and team morale.
Schedule a complimentary demo of ShiftWizard(™) nurse scheduling software today to discover how much time you (and your staff) can get back – so you can focus on your top priorities and create a healthy work environment for everyone.
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 ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
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 & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
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 ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
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 scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products