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The U.S. faces 120,000 vacant nursing positions, a number that could grow to 500,000 by 2025 . The shortage could affect patient safety and even death rates. Moses Cone Health System approaches the problem in two ways — by recruiting nurses and by retaining them, with one staffer devoted to each task. The News & Record’s Lex Alexander recently talked with Lisa Boland,  who oversees recruitment, and Dianna Young,  who oversees retention, about their challenges.

Some remarks were edited for brevity.

Q. How many nurses does Moses Cone Health
System employ?

Boland: We have approximately 2,400 to 2,500 nurses in our system.

Q. What is the annual turnover rate?

Boland: I don’t have a number for the turnover rate, but it’s below the national average, and we’ve seen a significant decrease in the past year. ... We’ve really focused on retention in the past year.

Q. How is the market for nurse recruitment?

Boland: Well, actually, over the last year, the market has been a bit tight. We’re finding good nurses. It’s been challenging, but we’ve been successful in doing that.

Q. With whom does Moses Cone most often compete in recruiting nurses?

Boland: I would say that our geographical area (Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point) is our competition. ... (But) we do local and statewide recruitment.

Q. Does Moses Cone enjoy any special competitive advantages or face any special competitive challenges in recruitment?

Boland: (When) we’re out recruiting for nurses, we really focus on three things: care and competence and celebration. ... We’ve got a caring environment, we’ve implemented programs that focus on caring for patients and families and caring for each other.
And we’ve got an open environment. We talk about the tough issues. And we don’t hide things from our staff. Our goal is to do the right thing for nurses, which in turn is to do the right things for patients. (The health system’s) senior leadership teams are highly engaged. It’s not uncommon to see (a hospital) officer … walk through and talk to the nurses.
Young: We have a lot of educational programs, as well as reimbursement for nurses to maintain their competence, seek out education and go to school (to be) better nurses. As far as celebrations, that’s my thing. We’re all about celebrating and recognizing nurses. We have banquets. We recognize excellence in patient care, and whether it be nursing or research ... we make sure nurses are recognized and celebrated for the work that they did.

Q. Is Moses Cone doing anything to increase the number of nurses coming through the pipeline, so to speak, rather than just standing at the end of the pipeline trying to get the number it needs?

Young: We have specialists that serve and staff nurses that serve as faculty at local schools of nursing so that we can expand the number of nurses that we can accept into our program.

Q. What do you think will happen in the near future at Moses Cone with respect to turnover?

Young: I think it may get better, particularly with the economy the way it is. I’m seeing relief nurses picking up more hours....
We’re seeing an influx of nurses that have been away from the program. The Greensboro Area Health Education Center (at Moses Cone) has a (refresher) program that can help (nurses) get rehired. ... They can learn new skills (and) work with new equipment and new technology because it has changed greatly over the years.
Boland: I see potentially retiring nurses putting off retirement, and that will affect the numbers positively.

Q: What are the most common reasons nurses give for leaving?

Boland: We’ve got a fair number that leave to relocate.
Young: For a lot of nurses, especially younger nurses, it’s work-life balance. ... (They think), I can work relief, not work full-time, keep my skills up and still be able to focus on my home life. ... We do have several who leave for other reasons. They’re deciding to go back for their master’s. (Some academic programs require) a lot of time in the program, so we’ll keep them in our system, but they will not be working here.

Q. Where do nurses who leave most commonly go?

Young: I think most of them stay in health care settings; it just may not be an inpatient acute-care system such as a hospital. Some go into home health … some go into education. Right now we’re really hurting for instructors. If nurses are willing to go into that area, that’s really a plus for nursing.

Q. What are the most important steps Moses Cone Health System takes to retain nurses?

Young: I think one of the biggest investments is the role that I’m in, being able to put salary dollars (into a position) that’s willing to work with a focus on working with nurses individually. I think that’s huge, and I think it speaks volumes. … We make a point of telling all new nurses about this position. We make the point from the very beginning that we want all new nurses to stay with us.

Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lex.alexander@news-record.com