Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1468749
54 NURSING SPOTLIGHT What made baby-boomer nurses work through the pandemic? By Erica Carbajal and Kelly Gooch F rom novices to seasoned experts, the COVID-19 pandemic challenged all nurses in different ways. Facing a time of unprecedented turbulence in their careers, some baby-boomer nurses took the opportunity to retire early. Stress and exhaustion, vulnerability to severe illness and fear of bringing the virus home to their families are just a few of the reasons baby-boomer nurses may have chosen to leave their jobs. But others stayed, despite the risks. "To tell you the truth, I never even thought about retiring," said Nancy Brewer, BSN, RN, an experienced nurse at a hospital in Ohio that is part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. "We have been through a lot of different things, a lot of different diseases, a lot of different isolation cases through my lifetime of being a nurse. So to me, it was just something else I had to step up to the plate for," she said, despite concerns about personal protective equipment supply, and potentially getting family members sick. Graduates new to the field were up against additional challenges. Some nurses who entered healthcare at the height of the pandemic missed out on the normal level of support they would have received other- wise, as nurse managers were tied up taking care of patients. "New grads came in, and because of the pan- demic, during a really hard time, and said, 'is just isn't for me,' and so the turnover of the new grads was very rapid — within the first few months — much more rapidly than it was previous to COVID-19," said Kathy Sanford, DBA, RN, chief nursing officer at Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health. Becker's spoke to Ms. Brewer along with two chief nursing officers to gain more insight about what made baby-boomer nurses work through the pandemic and the support these nurses offered new graduates entering the field amid the pandemic. Nurse experiences Jerry Mansfield, PhD, RN, became chief nurs- ing officer for Columbus, Ohio-based Mount Carmel Health System in January 2020, around the time of the pandemic's start. On his first day of work, a seasoned nurse there who had worked at Mount Carmel for more than three decades explained why she was still at the health system. "She said it's serving the underserved in this community and meeting the needs of people in a very compassionate and caring way," Dr. Mansfield said. He has continued to see that theme emerge throughout the pandemic during his two- year tenure as chief nursing officer. Tenured nurses have told him the reason they work at Mount Carmel is because of the mission, the vision and the values, and that they would leave if the health system turned away from those. During the pandemic, "every meeting, every incident command call, we always started with a reflection. e reflection could be something faith-based or have a spiritual underpinning from another nondenomina- tional religious affiliation, could have been a quote from a famous person, could have been a prayer," Dr. Mansfield said. "In those moments, sometimes that was the only moment you had to breathe during the day, and for us in this health system, it was a recentering on what our purpose was. I think that's why we are fortunate to have nurses who have stayed," he said. Another factor: Many of the 2,300 nurses at Mount Carmel also graduated from the Mount Carmel College of Nursing. erefore, "there is a deep connection between the college and the colleagues on the acute care delivery side really in all our delivery sites, and they stay because of the mission, vision, values, and I think that sustained them throughout the pandemic as well," Mr. Mansfield said. CommonSpirit's Dr. Sanford also talked to nurses at her organization. ere have been many reports about healthcare workers leaving their jobs, including a report released March 15 by analytics firm Elsevier Health showing 31 percent of clinicians participating in a global study said they were consider- ing leaving their current role by 2024. Dr. Sanford asked experienced nurses at several of her facilities about what kept them from leaving over the last two years. She said they all had the same message: "We're a team. We're a team on this unit. We're a team at this hospital. I could not leave my team members during a difficult time, so I put off my retirement. I could not retire early or leave my teammates. I could not leave the patients with so much need." Nurses also cited the culture of their hospital as caring, with very visible leaders who visited them and were concerned about their welfare, according to Dr. Sanford. A quote from one nurse: "You care about the organization when the organization cares about you." Dr. Sanford also asked nurses why they thought some of their colleagues had retired, and most cited personal reasons such as caring for spouses, siblings, aging parents and grandchildren. Overall in the U.S., caring for aging parents and sick spouses is a significant factor in Americans staying away from the workforce, e Washington Post reported April 4. e newspaper cited the Federal Reserve's latest Monetary Policy Report, showing that four times as many Americans are away from the workforce caring for spouses, siblings, aging parents and grandchildren than those who le the workforce to care for children during the pandemic. "It wasn't that they were afraid to care for COVID patients. It was because most had personal reasons," Dr. Sanford said. She said nurses also told her monetary incentives were appreciated, but their decision to stay "was about being here, doing the right thing for patients and supporting co-workers." In reference to baby boomers, a nurse at a California hospital told Dr. Sanford: "I was already retired when the pandemic began, but I came out of retirement and returned to work. Why? Because I knew my patients and my fellow nurses needed me. I think baby boomers are idealistic, caring problem-solv- ers. I'm not the only one who couldn't stay away. ere were others who came back to serve aer their retirement." Support for new nurses Amid a tight labor market and challenging pandemic, experienced nurses have been tasked with supporting newer nurses, in addition to their own responsibilities.