Officials at Morehead City, N.C., based-Carteret Health Care have developed many new strategies to attract and retain qualified nurses amid a national nurse shortage that is expected to worsen, according to Carteret County News-Times.
The hospital is currently changing its staffing model to achieve a 1-4 nurse-patient ratio, Pat Ausband, vice president of patient care services at CHC, told Carteret County News-Times. Before implementing changes, the hospital had a nurse-patient ratio of 1 to 6. The hospital is already seeing results, decreasing its nurse vacancies from 129 in December 2018 to just 60 open positions now.
CHC also created a nurse recruiter role, which Vickie Clanton, chief human resources officer for the hospital, said has been instrumental in attracting new nurses, Carteret County News-Times reports.
This year, the hospital also introduced a $100,000 nursing scholarship, which was awarded to eight nursing students in the state. The scholarships will cover up to 90 percent of college costs upon agreement that the nursing students work at CHC for two years after graduation.
CHC has multiple councils nurses can serve on to voice any ideas or concerns, and hospital leadership said it tries to incorporate feedback from nursing staff into policies, according to the Carteret County News-Times.
"If we're going to espouse that our nurses need to be professional in their roles, they need to be in leadership positions and advancing the cause of nursing research, nursing education and nursing practice," Mr. Ausband told Carteret County News-Times.