Cleveland Clinic's strategy to address nurse retention, burnout

Nurse retention and burnout are issues that plague hospitals throughout the country, but Cleveland Clinic is taking an innovative approach to address the problems.

Cleveland Clinic's Executive Chief Nursing Officer Kelly Hancock, R.N., tells Becker's Hospital Review, the organization offers yoga classes, reiki sessions, and stress and weight management seminars to nurses across the system to help prevent burnout and stress.

She said the key to preventing stress and burnout--which can have serious medical consequences, including heart disease--is maintaining personal wellness. "We want to keep people resilient," Hancock told Becker's. "We also empower our frontline caregivers."

Nurses at the clinic, she said, also participate in governance councils--one way to help retain nurses, FierceHealthcare previously reported--and have a say in shift rotations that may help lighten the load for overworked staffers.

Hancock said retaining nurses is one of the biggest challenges of her role at Cleveland Clinic. The changing healthcare landscape has created greater demands on nurses, she said, and the wellness efforts and other programs help keep them on staff. 

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