News: Top five challenges nurses can expect to face in 2012
Case Management Weekly, November 23, 2011
A recent HealthLeaders Media article observes that healthcare changes enacted in 2010 began to affect nurses in 2011.
These are some of the most pressing issues nurses will face in 2012:
- Advanced degrees. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has recommended that 80% of all RNs have a baccalaureate degree by 2020. The profession is focusing on ways to engage nurses in lifelong learning so that nurses with associate degrees can find realistic ways to obtain BSN degrees. BSN nurses similarly will be encouraged to work for graduate degrees and to be become leaders in evidence-based practice and research.
- Patient engagement. Find ways to emphasize the importance of patient experience to direct-care nurses. Some nurses realize that patient satisfaction has a direct effect on reimbursement, but some still don’t understand the importance of patient satisfaction. Nurses can affect patient experience scores by helping patients understand their care, involving families in decision-making, coordinating multidisciplinary care, and explaining complex diagnoses.
- Patient safety. Just as nurses should own some part of patient experience, they also should feel shared responsibility for patient safety. Unless nurses feel engaged in the process, quality improvement will seem like one more meaningless directive. Involving nurses in planning of patient safety measures will make them more accountable for the results.
- Cost cutting. Nurses know that hiring freezes and layoffs are constant threats as healthcare organizations put cost-cutting at the top of their agendas. This is especially true in 2012. As the largest budget in some organizations, nursing is an easy target. Creative scheduling can help reduce costs while maximizing efficiency.
- Retention. The nursing shortage hasn’t gone away simply because the immediate effects of the recession have eased. The turnover rate for new nurses is always high; investing in nurse residency programs could help prevent some of that turnover. Residency programs have proven results for retention and for increasing the competency of new nurses.
This article is adapted from an article that first appeared on the HealthLeaders Media website.
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