Becker's Hospital Review

99 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY nurses as our sounding board. As these nurses retire, quit or leave the bedside, Gen Z nurses are le to hope they have access to resources to help them get through a shi. at is not good for our patients, nor us." 3. Financial support. "My rent is $2,000 a month before bills. I am barely making enough money to pay for my rent, bills, student loans, and in- surance," Ms. Angeline said. "I have been told by many older nurses that organizations have cut hourly pay and differential severely since the pan- demic when hiring new grads. Young nurses have to consider travel nurs- ing in order to make ends meet or build up savings. e cost of everything is expensive right now, and cutting hourly pay is not going to help Gen Z nurses afford to live, contribute to the economy or simply succeed." AdventHealth emailed a statement to Becker's. "Knowing that each generation is unique in their preferences for en- gaging in the workplace, AdventHealth offers team members access to a wide choice of benefits that support the whole person — body, mind and spirit," the statement read. "AdventHealth offers team members mental health, wellness and fi- nancial support resources in addition to career growth and educa- tion assistance. Especially through the pandemic, AdventHealth has continuously listened to team members' needs and is constantly en- hancing its offerings accordingly to support its workforce. In listening to our millennial team members, we understand that their priorities involve a job that is more than a steady paycheck and instead a ca- reer that aligns with their purpose and offers competitive market pay. Rather than a 'boss,' millennials desire a 'coach,' and place a greater emphasis overall on work-life balance and professional development." AdventHealth also noted initiatives it is implementing to support its workforce, including a "newly enhanced" career growth program for team members, which offers student loan support coaching, career path planning tools, debt-free education assistance and more. 4. Respect and recognition. "At the start of the pandemic, people all over the world were praising nurses. Now, we can't help but feel for- gotten," said Jennifer Gil, MSN, RN, director-at-large of the American Nurses Association's board of directors. "Nurses need to feel valued, respected, and prioritized. More than anything, nurses want to feel safe and valued in order to best care for their patients." 5. Improved working conditions. "What do I need to feel safe, hap- py and fulfilled? I need the working conditions for my profession to improve," Ms. Gil said. "A simple but complicated request for all stakeholders. Change must come in all forms. Employers need to get creative and transform outdated staffing models that no longer work. A true financial investment needs to be made in order to achieve this. Congress needs to look beyond nursing wage caps and in turn, look at innovative legislation that values nurses and involves them through- out the process. Funding for nursing education and training needs to be increased. e solutions are there. Nurses know what they need. We just need people to listen and act." 6. Long-term workforce solutions. "We are lacking long-term staff- ing and overall workforce solutions to help us mitigate the stresses the pandemic has brought to our healthcare system. is can be done by increasing the number of career-ready registered nurses who work at the bedside," Amanda Buechel, BSN, RN, director-at-large, staff nurse on ANA's board of directors. "Additionally, we need increased recruit- ment and funding for nursing educators to be able to enrich students' nursing school experience and to prepare students for their career." 7. Patience. "As a Gen Z nurse, I feel like there are a lot of things the workplace needs. One thing in particular that comes to mind is pa- tience," said Shannon Atkinson, 24, a nurse at Missouri Baptist Med- ical Center in Town and Country. "I feel like as new/young nurses, we are expected to know a lot more than we actually do when we first start. But in reality, we are asking questions constantly. Oentimes I feel like I'm a burden or a nuisance on the older, seasoned nurses or on patients and their families because there is still so much I don't know and need to ask them about. Sometimes we are treated like we are dumb and incompetent because of things we don't know, when honestly as a nurse, you should never stop asking questions." "e notion of 'nurses eating their young,' or older, veteran nurses and other staff such as nurse practitioners and doctors being impatient, and sometimes downright rude, to[ward] new and orienting nurses needs to be abolished," said Florida-based nurse Bari Miller, 23. "e profession is not an easy one, but a friendly and supportive environ- ment in which the healthcare team works together to provide the best patient care can truly make all the difference." 8. More flexible working hours. "Gen Z/Millenial nurses need more flexible working options," said Shantelle Cruz, a nurse at Broward Health North in Broward County, Fla. "We are looking to be able to choose our own schedules and which hospitals we work for. Having multiple options for how we want to work is so helpful. Being able to go the traditional route of taking on a full-time role at one hospital, or picking up shis at multiple facilities to work around other com- mitments we might have, such as childcare or other responsibilities." 9. To be fulfilled. "I went into healthcare to take care of people. It just frustrates me when sometimes I go to work and it feels more like I'm at a business doing work, not that I'm here taking care of people on their worst days," said a 24-year-old trauma medical-surgical nurse at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., who wished to remain anonymous. e nurse said she especially felt this when the hospital placed an em- phasis on discharge numbers amid the pandemic. "ere was just so much push all the time about having this percent- age of people pushed out the door by this time," she said. "We don't want anyone sitting in the hospital longer than they have to, but it was just so frustrating because sometimes it felt like they cared more about the numbers that made them look good, not so much how busy we were and how ridiculously crazy some of the things they needed us to do were." e nurse said she'd prefer leaders to have "a little more focus on, 'Hey, how can we help you?' Not, 'Hey, you need to get this many people out the door.'" Advocate Aurora Health Chief Nursing Officer Mary Beth Kingston, PhD, RN, shared the following statement with Becker's: "We're proud of our dedicated nurses, who use their clinical expertise to lead the way and provide exceptional care amid a nationwide staffing chal- lenge. We remain committed to providing a comprehensive well-be- ing program, robust resources and bold and creative recruitment and retention strategies to support our nurses." 10. Continuing education support. "I want them to make good on their processes to help me with my continuing edu- cation," said the 25-year-old ICU nurse who wished to remain anonymous. "We have more than enough organizational support from the hospital group. ey will give you proportional money to- ward your professional development and straight out-of-pocket cash depending on how much you do. But the main focus of being em- ployed there right now is just to have bodies on the floor. … Of course they want you to do better, but they ultimately need the labor. at has pushed a lot of our Gen Z and millennials out of this hospital so that they can take contracts to pay off school out-of-pocket rather than taking a contract obligation for tuition reimbursement through the hospital." n

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