“Twenty-two percent: That’s how many nurses indicated in a recent McKinsey survey that they may leave their current position providing direct patient care within the next year” (Berlin, et al, 2020). It’s no secret that Covid-19 is taking its toll on nurses. But just how much of a toll is only now becoming clear to us. 

According to the 2020 National Nursing Workforce Study, there are 4.2 million RNs and 950,000 LPNs/LVNs in the United States. 

A recent ANA survey reported by the American Nurses Foundation found some disturbing realities for nurses battling Covid-19 on the front lines: 

• Difficulty Sleeping: 3 out of 5
• Overwhelmed: 51%
• Anxious: 48%
• Irritable: 48%

Of the 22% of nurses who may leave their current position, 60% reported they were more likely to leave due to the impact of Covid-19; specifically, they indicated that “insufficient staffing, workload, [and] emotional toll” were at the top of the list (Berlin, et al, 2020).

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

Take all these numbers together and you have hundreds of thousands of nurses who are hurting in their current positions.

In April 2021, The Guardian reported that nurses suffered the highest death count among US healthcare workers. 

And yet, 93-98% of nurses still say they are happy they chose the nursing profession (Medscape Nurse Career Satisfaction Report, 2020) and 85% say they would make the same choice again (American Nurse Journal, 2020).

A Light At the End of the Tunnel…

Image

Covid-19 has created a crisis in our hospitals that many of us feel a responsibility to handle . Yet we all know that Covid-19 patients aren’t the only patients who need our help. Millions of Americans without Covid-19 are in just as much need, but they have fewer and fewer nurses available to help them. 

The American Nurses Association reports that 1.1 million nurses are needed within the next year to address the current nursing shortage. This current nursing shortage is due, in part, to the rapid 73% increase of our 65+ population, which grew from 41 million in 2011 to 71 million in 2019 (StatPearls, 2020).

Quite simply, we need more nurses to care for our aging population — our own grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, many of whom are preferring to age gracefully at home rather than enter assisted living communities. 91% of nurse staffing agencies are reporting huge growth year after year as more Americans choose private duty nurses to help them manage their health from the comfort of their own homes (Staffing Industry Analysts, 2021).

In Gallup polls, nurses have been identified as the most honest and ethical professionals for the past 19 years. In 2020, they won 89% of the vote! 

People trust us and feel confident that we are working to help them. 

Image

“Nurse Kelley is a perfect fit for Peter. He has great respect for her. It’s super that we have Kelley overseeing what he needs to be doing for his particular issues. I have that access to Kelley that is very comforting. I trust the service wholeheartedly.” Marie, a NursePower Client

Put another way: you can still be a nurse, doing the work of helping people in need, but without the constant stress, anxiety, pain and suffering of working in your current position. In McKinsey’s extensive report, “Nursing in 2021: Retaining the healthcare workforce when we need it most,” researchers identified four workplace realities that nurses wanted and valued: 

1. Make Workforce Health and Wellbeing Part of the Fabric
2. Increase Workforce Flexibility
3. Reimagine Delivery Models
4. Strengthen Talent Pipelines and Build Skills for the Future

While hospitals and other traditional healthcare facilities struggle to implement any of these changes, the best private duty nursing agencies built them into their core values. Which means, nurses can either wait for the slow-moving hospital administration to make any changes or nurses can move to where these changes already exist. 

What stays the same is taking care of people. 

What changes is that now you can also start taking care of yourself.

And when you take care of yourself, you also take care of your family and loved ones.

The light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t mean leaving nursing, but it may mean taking your nursing skills and passion to a new organization.

Valuing Nurses: A Model to Look for…

Image

The McKinsey report identifies changes that nurses want to see happen in their workplace. But how long, realistically, would it take where you currently work to implement these changes?

And in the meantime, how much of a toll does your current work take on your emotions, your body, and your family?

So if you are at the point where joining the Great Resignation is starting to tempt you, pause just a moment and considering the following:

1. You still love being a nurse
2. You still want to help people
3. You invested time and money to become a nurse
4. But your current position is killing you

Although you may not realize it now, the problem is not nursing. The problem, typically, is how hospitals and other traditional healthcare facilities are run. 

Let’s examine each of the four changes from the McKinsey report that nurses say they want most. And let’s consider what that organization would look like so you will know what to look for. To examine each change, we’ll show you what it looks like at NursePower so you have a real-life example.

Make Workforce Health and Wellbeing Part of the Fabric

When you work for an organization that values your health and wellbeing, that organization takes the time and invests the resources to consistently recognize the value of their team members. 

NursePower makes the health and wellbeing of our nurses a central part of our culture:

Image

• Our monthly team social outings — last month, NursePower Clinical Director, Kelley Roy, treated her teams to either a retro chic breakfast in downtown Mystic or an upscale Italian dinner in Norwich
• Our weekly NursePower Empowers Nurses! Blog (encouraging our nurses in their exercise, eating, and wellness habits)
• Our monthly Family Fun series of curated Connecticut activities to enjoy with loved ones
• Our quarterly NursePower recognition events

We work very hard to take care of our employees and they, in turn, take care of us. In fact, our staff has helped us win the Employer of Choice Award for 4 out of the last 5 years. 

Would your current employer win this award? Does your current employer check in with you regularly to see how you are feeling?

Increase Workforce Flexibility

In traditional healthcare organizations, administrators make your work schedule. They create the schedule so it suits their needs, not yours. 

While Covid-19 has certainly increased our workloads, awful schedules are nothing new to nurses. Working every weekend, working Thanksgiving, working Christmas, working extra shifts, working whenever administrators schedule you is just part of a nurse’s reality. 

Or is it? At NursePower, you actually create your own schedule. Can you imagine that?

We respect our nurses so they are in control of their own schedules. At NursePower, you choose when, where, and with whom you work because we trust you to create your own schedule that allows you to be the best nurse that you can be.

No one knows your life needs as well as you do. We give you the power to choose based on your needs at that moment. It’s as simple as that. We value your time, your life, and your expertise. We don’t want you to burn out. We don’t want you to be overwhelmed. We don’t want you to be anxious or frustrated about being a nurse, which you love being. 

As a private-duty nurse, you don’t get pulled into the drama of the hospital or the nursing home. You do your job, you go home, and you get paid — and usually the pay is better. And if you don’t like working in one environment, you can quickly change to another because you are in control of where and when you work.

Giving you the flexibility you need to live your best life is central to our mission.

Reimagine Delivery Models

Private Duty Nursing is all about reimagining delivery models. The entire healthcare industry is experiencing a major shift in how we help people. Covid has pushed us to be creative and think outside the box of conventional approaches when it comes to delivery models.

And these changes help make private duty nursing so much more gratifying.

As we move away from a “factory healthcare” model to a personalized, individual model, we are able to leverage the power of technology to help more people safely and effectively. We make it possible for people to age gracefully in the comfort of their own homes; we make it possible for children to spend less time taking care of their elderly parents and more time just being with them. 

The nurses are the experts in the field. Your expertise and experience guide the type of care provided to patients. We give you the technology and resources needed to shape the perfect care plan.

In some cases, you may choose to visit a patient in home and in other cases, you may visit with patients via online conference or phone. Either way, you are in control to help the patient in the way that you deem most effective. 

Technology gives us greater flexibility in how we serve our clients, keeping our nurses and our patients safer and happier.

Strengthen Talent Pipelines and Build Skills for the Future

When healthcare organizations don’t value their nurses, they treat them like pawns on a chessboard — to be sacrificed. They don’t nurture them. We know this personally, because NursePower was founded by nurses and it is owned and operated by nurses. 

We. Are. You. 

We’re not some 1-800 number. We are members of our local community so we have a vested interest in guiding and mentoring our nurses so they provide only the very best care to our community. We know how important professional development is in helping you stay intellectually stimulated and challenged, remain current on latest research and best practices, and build stronger relationships with your fellow nurses.

We offer our nurses continuous specialty training which helps them develop professionally, remain industry competitive, and open up new opportunities so they can better provide for themselves and their families. 

Take the Next Step

How long will you continue to suffer where you are currently working? 

That’s maybe a bold question to ask you, but it’s really at the heart of what we’re talking about here. Every day, nurses are leaving our profession because of burnout, overwhelm, anxiety, and physical distress. They are leaving even though the vast majority don’t want to leave because they love being a nurse. It is who they are. 

If you or friends and colleagues you work with are finding yourselves feeling this way, you have another choice. 

You can take the next step and talk to a fellow nurse who stepped into private duty nursing with NursePower. 

You can talk to a fellow nurse who will be honest and open about how joining the NursePower team has dramatically changed her lifestyle. 

She will share her experiences with you and answer any questions you have about making the change to private duty nursing or joining the NursePower team.

Visit our web page so you can either call us, fill out a contact form, or if you’re feeling really inspired, email us your resume.

NursePower: Join Our Team