A Toolkit to Promote Nurse Resiliency and Retention Webinar

Sep 23, 2022

Recording now available below: A Toolkit to Promote Nurse Resiliency and Retention Webinar

In response to the significant nursing retention issues healthcare was attempting to mitigate, the PA Action Coalition pulled together a special interest task force. The goal of the Nursing Stress, Resiliency, and Retention Task Force was to compile best practices, identified in literature and by practice, to address the significant challenges the nursing workforce faces.

Members of the Nursing Stress, Resiliency, and Retention Task Force

  • Helen K. Burns, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Latrobe Hospital and Westmoreland Hospital, Excela Health
  • Zaharaa Davood, MPH, Manager, Pennsylvania Action Coalition
  • Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, PHD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Distinguished Service Professor of Nursing, and Professor of Psychology, Epidemiology, and Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing
  • Lindsey Ford DNP, RN, NPD-BC, Director, Nursing Education, Magnet & Quality at Geisinger Wyoming Valley and Geisinger Community Medical Center
  • Jennifer (Horn) Gimbel, Director, Pennsylvania Action Coalition
  • Sarah Hexem Hubbard, Esq., Executive Director, Pennsylvania Action Coalition, and Executive Director, National Nurse-Led Care Consortium
  • Monica J. Harmon, MSN, MPH, RN, Executive Director at the Community Wellness HUB located in the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships; Assistant Clinical Professor of Undergraduate Nursing at the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions; and Chapter President of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Area Black Nurses Association.
  • Ashley Iannazzo, DNP, RN, CNL, Director, Clinical Operations, UPMC Center for Nursing Excellence
  • Rev. Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake, MGA, FAAN, President of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation and Vice President, Community Affairs, Independence Blue Cross.
  • Joseph J. Napolitano, PHD, MPH, RN, CRNP, Vice President, Patient Care Services, Lehigh Valley Health Network
  • Amy H. Ricords, MEd, BSN, RN, NPD-BC, Director of Professional Nursing Advancement, Pennsylvania Action Coalition
  • Betzaida (Betzey) Medina Sasse, Critical Intensive Care Unit Nurse at Jefferson Health; Philadelphia Chapter President, National Association of Hispanic Nurses
  • Janet Tomcavage, MSN, RN, Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive, Geisinger
  • Barbara Wadsworth, DNP, RN, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer, Main Line Health
  • Zach Zobrist, Assistant to the President for Workforce Development, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania
  • Barbara A. Todd, DNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, Director Practice & Education –Advanced Practice, Hospital University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, Center for Health Outcomes & Policy, and Adjunct Asst Professor of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
  • Laurie Badzek, LLM JD RN FNAP FAAN, Dean, Penn State University, Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing

PA Action Coalition Releases Free Nursing Workforce Retention Toolkit

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition (PA-AC), a program of Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) subsidiary the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), released “Strategies to Increase Nursing Workforce Retention.” The free, downloadable toolkit identifies the significant challenges the nursing workforce faces and offers direct strategies and best practices to help healthcare institutions reduce turnover.

Pennsylvania and states across the country are facing a severe shortage of nursing staff, which leads to increased nurse burnout and reduces patient safety. In Pennsylvania alone, the Health Resources and Services Administration's Health Workforce Simulation Model estimates there will be a nearly 28% shortage of licensed practical nurses by 2030. To help mitigate this crisis, the PA Action convened the Nursing Stress, Resiliency, and Retention Task Force, with leaders from across care settings and roles to help identify solutions.

The Task Force identified six key reasons why nurses are leaving their jobs: insufficient staffing levels, family/life demands, physical toll, emotional toll, compensation, and the work environment. In direct response to these challenges, the toolkit offers nurse employers more than 30 recommended best practices and strategies to improve nurse quality of life and increase retention.

"Nurses are the backbone of healthcare system and studies routinely find they are the most trusted healthcare professionals. We need to prioritize patient safety by addressing the alarming rates at which nurses are leaving their jobs and the profession. The toolkit offers healthcare leaders and HR departments with a free, credible resource to help improve workplace environments for the nursing staff.”
Sarah Hexem Hubbard, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Action Coalition & National Nurse-Led Care Consortium

The PA-AC and NNCC will host a free webinar to discuss some of the strategies identified in the toolkit and engage the audience in a conversation around bolstering the nursing workforce. The webinar will be repeated on two days, September 21 and 22. Learn more and register for the webinar here.

For more information and to view the toolkit, please visit https://www.paactioncoalition.org/news/item/700-strategies-to-increase-nursing-workforce-retention.html

About the PA Action Coalition

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition is a program of the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium, a subsidiary of Public Health Management Corporation and was established in 2011 to promote a healthy Pennsylvania through improvements in the quality, accessibility, and safety of nursing. As part of the national Campaign for Action, established by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AARP, and the AARP Foundation, the PA-AC works to implement the recommendations of the 2010 Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report. The PA-AC fosters cross-sector collaborations to build a culture of health through nursing leadership. Its partners include leaders from health care institutions, academia, foundations, and nursing organizations including specialty and minority nursing organizations. For more information, visit paactioncoalition.org.

About NNCC

The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC), a subsidiary of Public Health Management Corporation, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit member-supported organization working to strengthen community health through quality, compassionate, and collaborative nurse-led care. The organization’s mission is to advance nurse-led healthcare through policy, consultation, and programs to reduce health disparities and meet people’s primary care and wellness needs. For more information, visit nurseledcare.org.

About PHMC

Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities. PHMC uses best practices and evidence-based guidelines to improve community health through direct service, partnership, innovation, policy, research, technical assistance, and a prepared workforce. PHMC has served the region since 1972. For more information on PHMC, visit phmc.org.

Download Toolkit

A Toolkit to Promote Nurse Resiliency and Retention Webinar

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition (PA-AC) and the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) hosted a webinar highlighting strategies to increase nursing workforce resiliency and retention. This webinar showcased several of the strategies identified in the Toolkit and engaged the audience in a conversation around bolstering the nursing workforce.

Presentations included:

  • How Did We Get Here: The Process and the End Product presented by Amy H. Ricords, MEd, BSN, RN, NPD-BC, Director of Professional Nursing Advancement, PA-AC

  • Nurse Sleep Health presented by Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob, PHD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Distinguished Service Professor of Nursing, and Professor of Psychology, Epidemiology, and Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing

  • Going Home Checklist presented by Lindsey Ford DNP, RN, NPD-BC, Director, Nursing Education, Magnet & Quality at Geisinger Wyoming Valley and Geisinger Community Medical Center

  • Internal Nurse Travel Program presented by Ashley Iannazzo, DNP, RN, CNL, Director, Clinical Operations, UPMC Center for Nursing Excellence