Introduction
Nursing shortages have become a critical issue for the majority of the country’s medical facilities. The retention rates have been consistently dropping, while the recruitment pool has been decreasing significantly, as fewer graduates are entering the labor market each year. Sunset Harbor Medical Center has been particularly affected by the issue of nursing staff shortage. The problem is exacerbated by low retention and limited opportunities for retention, while a competing medical center offers more attractive conditions to nurses.
The purpose of this paper is to create a strategic initiative to address the nursing shortage problem at the Sunset Harbor Medical Center. In particular, the issue that the strategic plan will be focused on is new market competition. Therefore, the initiative aims to improve the center’s market position by increasing its attractiveness to newcomers who choose it as their workplace.
Phase I: Environmental Scanning
S.W.O.T. Analysis
To increase competitiveness and attract nursing staff to the facility, it is necessary to conduct the organization’s S.W.O.T. analysis, which involves understanding its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These must be identified in relation to the causes of nursing staff shortage and competitors’ strengths. On the one hand, the organization takes an innovative approach and considers itself to be providing highly individualized care to the patients, which can be its strength.
However, there are additional weaknesses in nursing retention and attracting new staff. The first issue is unsafe working conditions alongside a poor patient-staff ratio. The recruitment pool, which is already small, decreases further as newcomers will prefer a hospitable environment with better working conditions, that is, the competitor.
Another issue that can be considered a weakness of an organization is the lack of sign-on bonuses or certification training, which competitors have introduced to attract nursing staff. The positive aspect is that the center offers opportunities to improve working conditions and introduce attractive features for new nurses, as well as retain existing staff. In the opposite case, however, the center risks losing a large part of the staff if more of it decides to transfer to the other center, which can ultimately threaten the center’s existence.
Organizational Environment
A fast-paced and demanding work environment characterizes the organizational environment of the Sunset Harbor Medical Center. High patient volumes and complex cases contribute to nurses’ burnout and decreased staffing levels (Daniel & Smith, 2018). On the other hand, nurses are not provided with time and opportunities for further professional development. The center, however, recognizes the importance of retaining and attracting nursing staff and is committed to implementing strategies to maintain its competitiveness by providing nurses with attractive working conditions.
Phase II: Strategic Vision and Mission
The strategic vision for the initiative to maintain the center’s competitiveness in terms of attracting nursing staff consists of becoming the employer of choice for nursing professionals in the healthcare industry. The strategy aligns with the organization’s overall vision in several ways. For example, firstly, the organization recognizes that the well-being and outcomes of patients depend on the well-being of the medical staff (Harris, 2019). Secondly, a healthy and thriving community is impossible without increasing the job satisfaction of the nursing staff.
The initiative’s mission is to empower the nursing staff to deliver exceptional care to the center’s patients by providing them with the necessary resources, support, and training opportunities to succeed (Harris, 2019). The strategy aligns with the center’s mission in two ways. Firstly, comprehensive and quality healthcare is provided when nurses are trained accordingly. Secondly, establishing evidence-based best practices is closely interlinked with providing nurses with appropriate work resources.
Phase III: Strategic Plan Development
The plan development team would include participants such as the human resources department, nursing leadership team, nursing staff representatives, finance department, and other staff members and stakeholders. It might also be necessary to engage the marketing department. The engagement of the marketing department may be necessary to create a competitive image in comparison to other medical centers.
The action plan would include the following steps:
- Conducting a needs assessment to identify the challenges and the opportunities for nursing staff attraction and retention.
- Developing a recruitment and retention strategy which would include the following tasks:
- Promoting the organization as the employer of choice and enhancing the employer brand.
- Introducing competitive compensation and benefits packages: these would include sign-on bonuses as well as tuition reimbursement.
- Introducing more opportunities for professional development, including mentorship and leadership programs (Park & Yu, 2019).
- Enhancing the organization’s work environment and creating a support system for the nursing staff (Park & Yu, 2019).
- Implementing the strategy and monitoring the progress, introducing adjustments.
One long-term objective is to increase the retention rate by 25% over the next five years. One short-term objective is to increase the number of qualified nursing applicants by 20% within the following year. Some of the necessary resources include a skilled human resources staff, funding for competitive compensation, funding for training opportunities, and marketing resources. Potential budget items would include $50,000 for sign-on bonuses, $100,000 for tuition reimbursement, $25,000 for training programs, and $10,000 for marketing materials.
Phase IV: Implementation
The first important aspect of implementing the strategy is effective communication and collaboration with all stakeholders. The development team will collaborate on the needs assessment and strategy development. Communication with the nursing staff will also be involved to ensure they are aware of the plan. The implementation timeframe is five years for the long-term goal and one year for the short-term goal. Each department or unit will have a SMART goal in alignment with the strategy’s objectives. One of the SMART goals would be for the nursing unit to increase the retention rate by 10% in the following year. The revision of policies and procedures related to recruitment, benefits, professional development, and other strategic aspects may be required.
Phase V: Monitoring Progress
The following elements will be reviewed when monitoring progress in the implementation. Firstly, key performance indicators will be reviewed quarterly, which will include staff turnover rates and other metrics, and will be reviewed by the HR department. SMART goals will be reviewed monthly by the nursing leadership team in accordance with the progress of achieving the goals. Feedback from the nursing staff will also be reviewed monthly by the HR department.
Conclusion
The strategy aimed at increasing the organization’s competitiveness in attracting and retaining nursing staff presents a comprehensive solution to the nursing shortage issue. The purpose of the paper was to create a strategic plan to solve the issue, which was achieved by outlining the vision, mission, strategic plan development, implementation, and progress monitoring. The strategy outlined in the paper can help the medical center increase retention rates and attract more nursing staff, both in the short term and long term.
References
Daniel, K. M., & Smith, C. Y. (2018). Present and future needs for nurses. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 23(1).
Harris, J. (2019). Challenges of Nursing Faculty Retention. The Midwest Quarterly, 60(3).
Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: A systematic review. Health Policy and Technology, 8(3), 296-303.