Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Strengthening the Next Generation of Nurses: Insights for Executives and Educators

Transcript

Strengthening the Next Generation of Nurses: Insights for Executives and Educators · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's
• 0:02
  healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to
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  the Becker's healthcare podcast series. Excited to have
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  you. Today, we're going to talk about strengthening
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  the next generation of nurses, insights for executives
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  and educators.
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  And joining me for today's discussion, very excited
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  to have them, is Jessie Scabinello,
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  clinical nurse executive at Elsevier, and Alison Utz,
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  director of clinical education at nursing professional development
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  at UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty
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  and Research Hospital.
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  Jesse and Allison, so great to have you.
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  Thanks for being here. So excited to be
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  here.
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  Yes. It's great to have you. I wanna
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  start us off with introductions here for our
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  audience just to make sure they get to
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  know you a little bit. Allison, I wanna
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  start off with you. Share a little bit
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  about yourself and and your work in health
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  care.
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  Absolutely. Well, nursing is actually my second career.
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  I spent fourteen years as a high school
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  teacher before taking the leap into nursing.
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  And over the past sixteen years, I've worked
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  in labor and delivery and in the intensive
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  care unit
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  and as a director of education
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  experiences that all have really shaped my understanding
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  of both patient care and team dynamics.
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  I have a genuine passion for supporting novice
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  nurses
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  as they transition into professional practice, guiding their
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  growth, their confidence, and development during that crucial
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  first year is the most rewarding aspect of
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  my work.
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  What a great perspective to, excited to hear
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  your thoughts with these coming questions here. Jesse,
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  over to you.
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  Yeah. Absolutely. So,
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  my name is Jesse Scapinello.
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  I have over fifteen years of experience in
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  health care.
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  Most of that has been spent in the
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  emergency department here in Central Florida. So, really,
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  my heart and soul are definitely in the
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  emergency department and always will
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  be. But for the last four years, I've
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  had the,
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  opportunity to serve as a clinical nurse executive
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  at Elsevier.
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  And I have the unique opportunity
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  now to work with health care organizations
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  across North America, so both in Canada and
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  The US.
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  Before joining Elsevier,
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  and after leaving bedside, I really shifted my
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  focus to the nursing informatics,
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  realm with really the goal to help
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  progress our profession
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  and really ensure that we are always practicing
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  at the top of our scope,
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  and I love to continue the opportunity to
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  do that here at Elsevier.
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  Again, so great to have you both here.
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  Such fantastic
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  perspectives.
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  I I was doing a little bit of
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  research for this podcast, and one of the
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  the statistics that really stood out for me
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  that a recent survey showed that nearly forty
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  percent
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  of RNs intend to leave the field within
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  the next five years, which is fairly significant.
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  You also participated recently in a webinar that
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  talked a lot about these issues and a
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  lot about the challenges that they're there.
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  What stood out to you as the most
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  pressing challenges novice nurses face today,
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  and what should leaders be paying closer attention
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  to? Allison, would love to start with you
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  on this.
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  Thank you.
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  Based on our recent webinar discussion, I think
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  one of the most pressing challenges novice nurses
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  face today is communication.
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  Leaders should really recognize that there is a
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  generational gap in communication
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  styles.
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  Technology plays a major role in that. Texting,
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  secure messaging,
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  less formal communications
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  methods
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  are often preferred by the Gen z nurses.
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  Meanwhile, those of us from,
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  older generations, Gen x, are more accustomed to
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  structured communication such as providing that full paragraph
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  of information or that full SBAR,
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  report when sharing patient information.
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  Leaders can bridge this gap by collaborating with
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  their professional development departments to provide education and
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  hands on training
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  on Espar communication.
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  Just as importantly, we must explain the why.
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  Why structured communication improves clarity, patient safety
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  and team efficiency,
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  and why medical staff refer concise SBAR reports
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  instead of 36 fragmented messages.
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  Yeah. Jesse, I'm assuming it's similar for you
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  as well. Again, communication plays such a big
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  role in this, making sure folks understand why
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  certain initiatives are being pioneered. And then, obviously,
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  again, communication is so critical in this. Jesse,
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  what does this look like for you? What
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  stood out for you as some of the
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  challenges that that you're viewing from where you're
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  sitting?
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  Yeah. Absolutely. And I think, you know, it's
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  interesting because Allison and I sit in different
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  roles in different places in the country, yet
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  you still see
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  kind of very similar themes. I think kind
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  of the biggest thing that has always stood
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  out to me
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  is really this disconnect
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  that nurses seem to have between
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  the perception
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  of nursing and coming out of nursing school
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  versus
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  being truly prepared.
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  I heard someone call it transition shock the
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  other day. I've heard
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  reality gap between school and practice.
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  And I think it goes back to what
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  Allison said, and it's communication
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  and
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  having that open communication,
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  having a a culture of feedback,
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  not a culture of fear, and really celebrating
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  our nurses when they do
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  ask questions and look for evidence based information.
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  And,
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  you know, regardless of how they wanna communicate
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  that with one another,
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  celebrating the different ways that we communicate, but
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  always really just driving it back to what
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  does the evidence say
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  and practicing
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  safe nursing
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  from day one out of nursing school all
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  the way through our career.
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  Yes. Yeah.
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  The why is so important. Alex, you know,
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  outlined that as well. Right? The why is
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  so key in making sure that this actually
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  works and and folks communicate correctly and and
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  with each other.
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  I wanna dive into the strategic piece of
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  this a little bit and the organizational
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  impact that all of this has. It has
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  certainly has impact on people, but it also
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  has a strategic impact.
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  Similarly to the the research that I was
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  doing and mentioned earlier, right,
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  we found that the average turnover cost for
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  a single staff RN in 2024
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  reached $61,000
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  right above over that in in April and
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  six increase from the previous year. So it's
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  only going up. It will be going up.
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  With retention now both a strategic and financial
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  priority,
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  how are organizations
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  adapting their approaches
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  to recruitment, retention, education,
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  etcetera,
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  to really better prepare? Now, Allison, I'd love
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  to hear what you're doing, right, to be
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  able to achieve this.
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  Yeah.
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  Intentional interviewing has really become one of our
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  priorities in this institution.
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  When we interview candidates, we are not only
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  looking for those individuals that have the degree,
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  they have the skill, and they have the
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  desire to work with us,
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  but we're seeking those who have a genuine
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  desire to become a part of the culture
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  that we're building.
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  Ours is a relationship based culture.
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  And so during those interviews, we're asking relationship
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  focused questions
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  designed to uncover whether that candidate is eager
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  to lean into teamwork,
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  to develop meaningful
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  relationships,
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  to collaborate with others.
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  Those are the individuals we wanna hire.
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  We found that team members who are invested
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  in their organization,
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  who wanna be a part of shared governance,
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  who are invested in the culture, policies, and
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  the people are the ones who wanna stay
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  to grow and to help shape the future
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  of our organization.
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  They have their own why.
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  Yeah. Their own why. Exactly.
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  The organization has a why, but they have
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  their own personal why as well. Jesse, same
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  for you. What does this look like? Again,
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  you work with so many different folks, so
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  many different organizations.
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  Who is doing this particularly
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  well, and what are you seeing work well
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  in this context?
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  Yeah. I think, you know, where I see
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  it work well and kind of the mindset
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  that I see work really well is is
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  thinking of onboarding as a true investment.
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  It's not an event. It's not, you know,
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  just a blip in time.
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  Yes. It's six, eight, twelve weeks on paper,
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  but that onboarding is truly an investment
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  into that individual. You're bringing them into your
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  system,
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  and and you're investing in in their time,
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  in their future, and their career growth and
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  really understanding,
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  as Allison said, from from the interview process.
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  So even before day one, what does
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  career progression look like to them? What do
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  those opportunities
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  look like to them? And just making sure
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  that that they're valued and they see the
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  value
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  in not only staying
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  within an organization,
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  but staying within our profession. We have an
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  amazing profession
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  and so many great opportunities,
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  and just investing
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  in those individuals and those opportunities
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  in the education opportunities,
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  I think is really what is going to
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  make a difference.
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  Yeah. Absolutely. And I wanna double click a
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  little bit more on both of you mentioned
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  the culture piece. Right? And, Allison, you you
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  started it started your answer to our last
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  question here with the culture piece, which is
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  so crucial. And I wanna, again, dive into
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  that a little bit more.
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  What role do culture leadership and collaboration
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  play really in creating this environment where
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  especially novice nurses can thrive and and grow
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  into those confident practitioners that we want to
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  empower?
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  Right?
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  What's one focus leadership prioritize
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  really to empower and build that culture?
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  I think one priority is presence.
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  Novice nurses need to know that their senior
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  leadership is there and that they are supporting
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  them.
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  They need to know that
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  they are someone that they can approach, that
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  they're not just there when they're in trouble
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  or when they do something wrong.
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  A culture that is built on safety and
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  education
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  and a culture that's built on fear are
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  two totally different things. And our senior leadership
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  team really wants that,
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  culture to be,
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  hey. I see my c and o in
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  the hall, and I have a question. Let
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  me stop and ask her. She'll probably know
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  the answer. Let me ask her what
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  what my burning question is about nursing right
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  now.
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  We're actively empowering nurses. Is that what them.
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  Yes. That's that's that's the question.
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  Yeah. And be be there, be present, and
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  have the the right mindset to say, hey.
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  I'm making a decision, and I know you're
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  supporting me in that decision. You're encouraging me,
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  which is so, so key.
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  Jesse, same thing for you. I'd love to
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  know what you're seeing
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  in that realm when it comes to culture
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  and leadership. Right?
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  How are organizations
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  creating that environment
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  specifically for novice nurses, and and what are
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  you seeing from leaders?
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  Yeah. And, you know, I just echo again
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  what Allison said. I think
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  psychological safety is so important,
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  really, as the foundation of everything. And when
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  you can create that culture
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  of psychological
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  safety,
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  of nurses that feel empowered to speak up,
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  to learn in the moment, to be leaders.
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  I think that sets the foundation
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  of everything.
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  But then also challenge your leaders to to
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  be vulnerable and to be curious and to
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  create
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  a culture of learning where learning is exciting
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  and being curious about something is exciting. And
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  sometimes challenging the status quo is exciting when
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  you're doing it, you know, backed with evidence,
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  then, hey. I saw this really interesting article.
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  Have have we thought about trying this?
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  That is when we elevate our career, and
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  that is where we empower
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  each other to challenge the status quo. And
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  and when doing so is is seen as
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  a strength. It's not a weakness. We're strengthening
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  our teams.
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  We're getting creative. We're having fun with it.
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  And, you know, nursing is stressful, and we
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  work long shifts, and it's hard.
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  So really creating that culture where everyone feels
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  empowered
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  to come and do something good
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  for their team, for their community, for each
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  other, I think, really helps with all the
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  other statistics that we talked about in that
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  retention piece.
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  I was going to say the foundation is
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  always culture. We talk about so many of
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  those little things, you know, the numbers and
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  the strategies, but truly the foundational piece for
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  everything to work
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  is the culture element that you've both touched
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  on, which is absolutely fantastic.
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  Jesse and Allison, what a great conversation. Thank
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  you so much for sharing all of your
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  insights. I wanna turn the floor over to
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  both of you.
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  Anything else that we didn't touch on that
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  you wanna leave our audience with today that
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  we might have not talked about that's important
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  to you?
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  Allison, start off with you here.
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  I just wanna leave the audience with, you
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  know, your role as a leader is is
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  to develop that culture
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  and to develop that collaboration and creating an
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  environment where novice nurses can thrive and grow
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  into confident practitioners.
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  That just it cannot be overstated.
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  And the the culture of that organization can
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  make or break that nurse.
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  So when we lift those novice nurses up,
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  we support them and they feel that support
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  from leadership, from their peers, from,
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  their educators.
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  They're far more likely to build strong relationships
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  and to foster collaboration across the entire organization
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  and to stay.
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  Absolutely. Jesse, anything else to add here?
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  Yeah. I think, again, just like Allison said,
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  I think, you know, we need to remind
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  ourselves as leaders that
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  education
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  and empathy have to go hand in hand.
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  And it's about setting that culture and understanding
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  that nurses don't just need training.
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  We need a sense of belonging. We need
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  a team that we feel comfortable with. We
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  need to be empowered to speak up and
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  ask those questions.
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  And, ultimately, we need to keep reminding ourselves
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  that as we
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  lead with
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  evidence and we lead with empathy,
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  we're we're really supporting our our mentors for
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  tomorrow, our leaders for tomorrow, our educators for
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  tomorrow. So we're not just empowering ourselves and
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  our small teams. We're we're building up our
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  community and and really making it a safer
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  place to be and a great place to
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  be.
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  Jesse and Allison, what a wonderful note to
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  end on. Thank you so much for taking
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  some time for us today and and for
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  sharing all of your insights. It's great to
• 14:49
  have you. Thank you so much.
• 14:51
  Yeah. Fantastic. We also want to thank our
• 14:54
  podcast sponsor Elsevier for bringing us together today,
• 14:56
  and you can tune into more podcasts from
• 14:58
  Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at
• 15:01
  beckershospitalreview.com.