Solving Workforce Problems in Rural Healthcare Facilities
Rural hospitals are the lifeline to healthcare access in remote areas across the country and vital to maintaining a robust healthcare system nationwide. These facilities tackle unique challenges in providing care to their communities and stabilizing their healthcare workforce. Urban hospitals face issues in addressing the nursing shortage and retaining new talent. However, rural hospitals take on these challenges alongside a retiring workforce, a smaller supply of providers, and lower budgets. Solving the workforce challenges involves examining the nursing workforce pipeline by recruiting graduates of nursing programs, transitioning them into their practice, and nurturing this talent for longevity in their nursing career. To improve their ability to meet care demand, rural healthcare facilities must modernize their staffing model to include talent-focused recruitment strategies, supportive transition-to-practice programs, and foster a resilient adaptable healthcare community.
Talent-Focused Recruitment
Recruiting nurses to rural healthcare facilities has been a long-standing issue hindering the rural workforce. Rural hospitals primarily attract individuals who are from the area and with lower wages compared to urban hospitals, it is difficult to convince non-local nurses to make the move. As identified by the Rural Health Information Hub, recruiting for retention involves matching candidates based on environmental factors. In the early stages of recruitment, matching individuals based on external influences like school systems, spousal job opportunities, and career development increases the chances that workers remain in their position for a longer period. Understanding the values of the incoming workforce is paramount to identifying and meeting their needs.
Prioritizing talent first recruitment efforts are crucial to the long-term retention of nurses. Rural hospitals can focus on other benefits they offer to candidates. Being farther from the city can attract nurses looking for a better quality of life and a lower cost of living. Housing and food prices are generally lower in these areas as well as being less congested than in urban areas. Beyond community factors, rural organizations can emphasize providing career building for their current and future employees through clinical competence validation, skill development, and mentorship to promote a steady pipeline of workers. By offering professional development opportunities, hospitals can provide a non-monetary incentive to recruit nurses interested in professional development to foster talent toward specialized skills. Identifying the values of the potential workforce is the first step in transforming the retention of rural nurses.
Transition-to-Practice Programs
A leading factor that causes nurses to leave the field is a lack of a clear career path and development. Rural hospitals can attract nurses early in their careers by offering transition-to-practice onboarding programs that offer care providers a way to refine their skills, adjust to practice, and understand different paths for career advancement.
The nursing shortage is further exacerbated by the shortage of nursing instructors and as rural hospitals face unique challenges, healthcare providers must be prepared to care for unique situations. Transition-to-practice onboarding programs help to ensure nurses are trained to the employer’s standards and prepared to handle the diverse challenges of rural hospitals. Nurses are able to hone their clinical skills as they practice alongside learning in clinical simulations and with mentors prepared to guide their skill development. Beyond honing their hard skills, transition-to-practice programs encourage leadership skills in young nurses. Emphasizing leadership building in nurses prepares them to be informed decision-makers for the future of the hospital. As nurses progress into healthcare leaders, they have the capacity to be better caregivers and coworkers.
Workforce Resilience
Recruiting talent is the first hurdle that rural hospitals navigate in stabilizing their workforce and retention is the second obstacle to creating a steady pipeline of workers. Being a healthcare provider encompasses laborious hours, emotionally taxing work, and is physically demanding alongside mastering the skills needed to deliver care. With the high demands of a career in nursing, fostering resilience in the workforce is crucial to retaining talent long-term. Resilience is the most invaluable skill that can be nurtured for young nurses and is essential to longevity in the field. Fostering resilience in the nursing workforce involves the ability to navigate and adapt to difficult and trying situations. Prioritizing the resilience of nurses entails putting the mental health of healthcare workers at the forefront of management.
Encouraging a team-based approach to providing patient-centered care is one way for healthcare organizations to build resilience in the workplace. The team-based care approach encourages each member of the team to utilize their unique skill set to provide patients with a dynamic care strategy. Harnessing the unique strengths of each team member optimizes the staffing resources of the facilities and offers an opportunity for collaborative problem-solving through difficult treatment scenarios. Operating on a team-based approach supports workers to share responsibilities and to curb burnout of individual employees. As nurses build their clinical leadership skills through collaborative team work, they are better able to adapt to the high demands of the healthcare industry.
Conclusion
Rural hospitals have a special connection to the communities they serve. Community engagement is a crucial element in rural facilities continuing to provide essential access to care. Healthcare facilities serving rural communities greatly benefit from nurturing relationships with local educational institutions and healthcare organizations. Partnering with other local agencies strengthens rural hospitals' ability to staff and meet care demand. The largest funnel of nurses into rural hospitals is from local education programs. It is vital to optimize the retention of this talent through early recruitment and training efforts. Additionally, it is beneficial for rural hospitals to partner with other local healthcare organizations to promote synergy of the communities care facilities.
Community connections help rural organizations stabilize through uncertain times, however, the healthcare workforce is the heartbeat of hospitals in providing care. Rural healthcare facilities are facing accelerated closures across the US as reported by The Council on Graduate Medical Education in 2022. These closures are occurring at a rapid rate largely due to the staffing issues hospitals encounter when navigating recruitment and retention of RNs and LPNs. Recruitment and retention are codependent factors influencing the stability of the nursing workforce. Creating a steady pipeline of workers is rooted in promoting synergy between recruiting talent, transitioning new hires into practice, and fostering resilience for longevity in the field. Hospitals can begin to bridge the gap between facility and workforce through talent focused recruitment strategies. Matching candidates based on environmental factors that will play into their lifestyle and career aspirations aids hospitals in staffing with individuals aligned with their values. Additionally, hospitals are able to encourage a skilled workforce through transition support, leadership development, and mentorship opportunities. Allowing the space for career and skill advancement, equips nurses to be healthcare leaders ready to deliver quality patient-centered care.
