A Philadelphia program to recruit and retain nurses has met with success. Main Line Health System, which includes three hospitals, has hire 225 new nurses and 100 experienced nurses in the last five years. But healthy staffing ratios weren't always a reality. When the system was struggling with a 12 percent nurse vacancy rate in 2001, hospital officials called on a "nursing summit group" to help solve the problem. Initially nurses were given a one-time bonus payment if they agreed to stay on staff for three years. In the meantime, administrators worked on receiving "magnet status," a title the American Nurses Credentialing Center give to hospitals that meet certain criteria for nurse staffing and satisfaction. "One of the most important things we did is create a shared governance system," Barbara Tachovsky, chief nursing officer for Main Line Health, told the Philadelphia Business Journal. "Nurses now have their own forum to voice issues they are interested in." As a result, all three hospitals now enjoy very low nurse vacancy rates.
For more on Main Line's success:
- read this article from the Philadelphia Business Journal