Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1465061
98 CMO / CARE DELIVERY 10 things Gen Z, millennial nurses want to improve their working conditions By Mackenzie Bean, Cailey Gleeson and Kelly Gooch A survey released March 1 from the American Nurses Founda- tion and Joslin Insight showed Generation Z and millennial nurses — who belong to the generations born between 1981 and 2012 — have been hit hard by the pandemic, with many suffering from mental health issues and about 60 percent saying they will leave or are considering leaving their positions. Becker's spoke with about a dozen nurses at systems across the country about what they feel is lacking in their current environments and what employers could do to fill those gaps. Four common needs emerged from the conversations: work-life balance, better pay, more support and improved working conditions. Nurse experiences Lindsey Klinges, RN, 23, has worked as a registered nurse at Geisinger Wy- oming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for two years. Before that, she worked as a nursing assistant in the hospital's progressive care unit. As a May 2020 nursing school graduate, Ms. Klinges acknowledges she missed out on some experiences before becoming a bedside nurse, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But she said she currently works with a good team of nurses. "I think we work really good as a team. Regardless if we have new travelers or new nurses," Ms. Klinges said. "We really help out our neighbors and try to make the care as best we can for our patients." One thing that perhaps separates her generation from older ones is technology savviness, Ms. Klinges said. "When I was in the [intensive care unit] the other day, we looked at beds that are technology run," she explained. "Older nurses didn't know how to use them. We were going back and forth about what worked for us, what didn't work for us." Overall, she said the beds are supposed to help prevent pressure ulcers and make it easier for nurses to transport patients between different areas of the hospital. Rachel Cameron, RN, is a 29-year-old surgical ICU nurse at Tus Medical Center in Boston. She described the current work environment as stressful. "Right now, patients are sicker than ever, and that's something that has been trending more in the last 10 to 20 years. Patients who decades ago would have been dying are now living in the ICU, and patients who are on the regular floors in the hospitals would have been ICU patients," Ms. Cameron said. "So, there's a general uptrend of acuity in hospitals, compounded by the fact the population is aging, people are living longer with more comorbidities," she said. Adding to the stressful work environment is a lack of adequate health- care staffing because people are quitting amid what has been deemed the "Great Resignation," or people are getting burned out from the work, she said. Generational differences may also come into play with nursing turn- over. Previous generations of nurses were more likely to stay with one health system for the majority of their career, but Gen Z and millen- nial nurses are "being a little bit more savvy about their money" and have no issue jumping to a new employer that better suits their needs, according to a 25-year-old ICU nurse at a large nonprofit health sys- tem in the Midwest who wished to remain anonymous. "I come from a long line of nurses, and my mother, my grandmother, they are all career people that have stayed with one hospital group for the majority of their career," the nurse said. "Whereas a lot of nurses who have come up more recently are less likely to do that because they're essentially going to chase the benefits and work-life balance." Outside of work, Ms. Cameron pointed to personal difficulties people are facing, especially those in her generation who have a lot of student loan debt and are receiving wages that have not been keeping up with the cost of living. "When you're constantly stressed at work and also stressed at home because of financial difficulties, it's going to lead to earlier burnout among people in my generation," she said. "e key to that is you have to alleviate the personal stressors, i.e., increase wages, or you have to relieve the professional stressors, meaning more staffing, more ancil- lary staff to help." Ms. Cameron encouraged hospital executives to listen to millennial and Gen Z nurses, and to try to get millennial nurses on hospital committees and in hospital leadership roles so they can have a voice at the table. Ten things nurses need more of, in their own words: Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity. 1. On-the-job training and support. "We are in the unique position of graduating in a global pandemic where we might not have gotten well-rounded experiences, hands-on learning, or in-depth training be- cause of alternate or virtual learning," said Gabrielle Angeline, 25, BSN, RN, former cardiac nurse at Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Advent- Health. "Hospitals are not prepared to train new grads on every aspect of nursing and make up for the deficits from nursing school. It is all un- precedented, but Gen Z nurses are the ones suffering in the workplace." Ms. Angeline said she applied to around 350 jobs in Chicago when entering the field. "I got denial email aer denial email because I did not have experience, but if I'm a new grad, where am I supposed to get experience?" Ms. Angeline said. "Nurses are in high demand. We have been in the middle of a nursing shortage for years, and not just be- cause of the pandemic. I was told in nursing school that baby-boomer nurses made up around 1 million nurses in the field, and as retirement age draws near, those positions will all be available." "We do not have the years of clinical judgment and experience that these nurses do, and healthcare organizations need to do more to prepare us to fill those roles and support us as we attempt to fill them," she continued. 2. Mental health support. "I have been thrown into a profession where I am expected to take care of three, four, or five humans for 13 hours a day with only six weeks of training to prepare for a thou- sand different situations we could face every shi," Ms. Angeline said. "Much of nursing is using nursing judgment, trusting your gut, and using evidence-based practice to care for your patients. Nursing judg- ment takes time to develop and oen we rely on more experienced