The healthcare community understands there’s a nursing shortage. Healthcare organizations deal with it in real time every shift. Every day. And while they know the reasons: not enough people are entering the profession, seasoned nurses are retiring, and the post-pandemic burnout is still reverberating throughout the profession.
The lack of quality nurses is much more complex than simply not having enough professionals to go around. Many healthcare organizations haven’t updated their management practices in decades. And while the adage “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” rings true, this is a situation that is clearly broken, and the only ones who can fix it and benefit from fixing it are those in charge. If management fails to get the memo, it’s just a matter of time before your very best nurses walk out the door.
Recognizing Outdated Management Practices
Here we take a look at those outdated management practices that many healthcare organizations still utilize in their daily practices. If these managerial practices resonate with you, please take steps to update and correct them before you find your facility with serious and dangerous staff gaps.
Rigid Scheduling
When you assign shifts with a “no excuses” attitude and with little to no input from your nursing staff, you come off as controlling and commanding. This type of scheduling may have made sense back when large candidate pools and low turnover were the norm, but today’s nurses have choices. From per diem work to travel nursing, as well as fierce competition from healthcare organizations that incorporate updated management styles, nurses want flexibility. When you collaborate with your staff regarding scheduling shifts, you demonstrate that their input is valued and respected.
No Path to Career Growth
Some healthcare facilities only offer two tiers when it comes to their nursing staff. One is a nurse who provides direct patient care, and the other is a nurse manager. These facilities offer nothing to the experienced nurses who want to take on mentorship, clinical leadership positions, or specialized roles. If there isn’t a way to grow into another role within the organization, nurses will look elsewhere for an opportunity to grow in their career.
Not Recognizing the Individual
Another outdated management practice is failing to recognize the “job well done” by individual nurses or the team. Sure, you get the metrics from patient satisfaction scores, compliance audits, and the like, but what about the everyday informal above-and-beyond work your nurses perform? Recognize the nurses or teams that provide help in onboarding new nurses, catching errors, and being there for patients’ families. Make your nurses proud of the work they do and their dedication to patient care.
One-Sided Communication
A very outdated management practice: assuming all instruction comes from administration and the nurses are there to follow orders. The problem is that the nurses know more about the bedside realities than administration does. Issues with workflow, understaffing, and poorly working equipment pose dangers to patients and ultimately your facility. Take steps now to include feedback from your nursing staff and weigh it heavily when making decisions.
Seeing Burnout as A Failure
Many healthcare organizations treat burnout as a “you problem”. In other words, they provide wellness seminars and resilience training; they expect the nurses to utilize what they learn in preventing their own burnout. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to your nursing staff and reducing those conditions that cause burnout. Don’t rely on your nurses to work mandatory extra shifts to cover staff gaps, respect PTO, and offer flexible scheduling. Burnout is most often an “us problem”.
Update Your Management Practices
While updating your management practices isn’t comfortable, it’s essential to maintaining safe staff numbers. Give your nurses a voice in scheduling, provide a visible path to career advancement, recognize their contributions, and most of all, listen to your nurses as individuals with solid ideas. Let them know they are valued and respected.
For more information on how you can update your management practices and stop losing nurses, contact BOS Medical Staffing.
