Flexible schedules, competitive pay help retain local nurses

Hospitals and other medical facilities across the nation report a shortage of nurses, but locally vacancy rates are low. Officials at hospitals and nursing homes in the Cape Girardeau area say that while it's not always easy to find qualified nurses, in this area nurses are attracted to the benefits and professionalism available at local facilities.

Winning the Magnet Award means nurses stay at Southeast Missouri Hospital, said Sharon Stinson, director of patient care services. Southeast has a vacancy rate of less than 3 percent annually, she said, while on a national level, the vacancy rate is between 7 and 15 percent.

Southeast is among 3 percent of American hospitals who meet stringent criteria to qualify for the Magnet Award.

"We treat people the way they like to be treated and when they graduate this is where they want to work," Stinson said.

Sometimes it's hard to recruit nurses because in the medical field more options are available to women, said Jeannie Fadler, vice president of patient care at Saint Francis Medical Center.

"There are many career opportunities once they become nurses, not just at hospitals any more," she said. "There's a lot of things they can do once they have that basic degree."

Local facilities retain nurses by making it easy for them to work.

"I hate to say this but nurses can pretty well get their demands a lot of times," said Janice Unger, director of the Lutheran Home. "That's nice when you are a nurse. You know you are needed."

The Lutheran Home and others in the area offer a variety of shift options. Some work per diem -- on a daily basis. Debbie Taylor, assistant director of the new Landmark Hospital, said she expects Landmark to hire most of its nurses on a per diem basis once it opens until nurses can get a feel for what it's like to work there.

"A lot of nurses like the 12-hour shift with the weekend option," Unger said. "They can work on the weekend and be home all week with their children. I wish I had that when I was working as a nurse."

Nurses seldom leave the Veterans Home, said director Maria Hanschen, because the schedules are flexible, pay and benefits are competitive with larger facilities, but mostly because standards are high.

"Our professionalism is not like any other nursing home," Hanschen said. "The VA is wonderful to work for; it has very high standards. It says a lot about a facility when people stay."

Hanschen proudly says that for the past three months there were no pressure sores on any patient. The national average is 15 to 25 percent, and Missouri's average for pressure sores is 14 percent of the patient population.

Fadler said that Saint Francis makes sure that nurses know they are valued by encouraging their participation in developing standards of practice, making sure they have the technology they need, improving communication and keeping shifts flexible. Saint Francis and Southeast both offer scholarships for beginning nurses and for continuing education. Both offer a loan program that nurses can pay back by working.

The Visiting Nurses Association, however, has had difficulty recruiting and retaining nurses. According to director Helen Sander in the Sikeston office, the VNA employs between 60 and 80 nurses and needs about 25 percent more than that.

Sander says the VNA prefers to hire experienced nurses for their home-health services, which may account for the difficulty in finding qualified nurses willing to work in mostly rural areas.

"Our nurse is going to be in the home with a sick patient and have no one else there with her to back her up or second-guess her," Sander said. "We have to have nurses who are independent and skilled enough to provide for the patients' needs."

Nursing schools and hospitals have created programs to recruit young people into nursing. Hospitals and schools maintain bridge programs to help practical nurses earn degrees as registered nurses while still working. As baby boomer-age nurses begin to retire, and as women in general go into other professions, the need for nurses remains. Fadler said she sees this shortage lasting longer than other shortages have.

"I've been in nursing over 30 years and I've seen shortages come and go," Fadler said. "I think on a national scene this one is going to be more sustaining than previously. Enrollments are up in schools, but the next concern will be available qualified faculty."