Research: Frontline Nurses View Schedule Flexibility as Key to a Fulfilling Clinical Career
Research: Frontline Nurses View Schedule Flexibility as Key to a Fulfilling Clinical Career
Listen on your favorite appResearch: Frontline Nurses View Schedule Flexibility as Key to a Fulfilling Clinical Career
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The Works Team
Frontline nurses, who are feeling overwhelmed and overworked due to an ongoing nationwide staffing crisis, seek significantly more flexibility in their work arrangements, including the ability to self-schedule the days and shift times they work.
Those are the key findings from new research comprised of survey responses from more than 500 frontline nurses, 96 percent of whom are registered nurses, with the remainder including advanced practice registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses and licensed practical nurses.
The study was commissioned by Works, an industry-pioneering workforce management platform that helps health systems drive clinical cost savings and bolsters nurse retention through a new mobile app enabled centralized staffing model, using Trusted Health’s database of over 500,000 registered clinicians.
Among the key findings of the research:
- Asked to rank their most preferred ways of gaining more flexibility in their work schedules, 64 percent ranked “self-scheduling” first among 12 options, which included part-time work with hour requirements, hybrid shift lengths and hybrid roles, gig work without hour requirements, among others.
- 61 percent of nurses said they defined self-scheduling as being able to work the type of shift they desire (4 shifts of 10 hours each per week, or 5 shifts of 8 hours each per week, etc.)
- Nurses see the lack of control over when they work as a significant barrier to sustaining their clinical nursing career long-term. 33 percent of nurses cited the lack of control over what days they work and 24 percent cited the need to schedule their life 4-6 weeks at a time as barriers to feeling fulfilled in their career.
“Nurses have a direct impact on the quality of patient care and in driving healthy patient outcomes, and when veteran nurses leave the profession due to a lack of work/life balance, our health systems suffer,” said Lennie Sliwinski, founder and CEO of Trusted Health. “To retain their nursing workforce and help nurses be more effective, health systems should offer nurses more control over their scheduling, giving them more autonomy and predictability in when they will work and reducing staffing gaps that could impact care.”
The Works team has published a whitepaper detailing the research findings and providing key recommendations for health systems. These include offering partial shifts or hybrid shift lengths, not relying on nurses to fill just-in-time shift requirements, offering nurses the option to work extra hours on their terms, and reconsidering the use of internal travel programs and rotational programs.
The Works Team
Description
Trusted Health’s survey of 500+ frontline nurses identifies lack of schedule control & predictability as barriers to sustaining a long-term nursing career.
Transcript
Frontline nurses, who are feeling overwhelmed and overworked due to an ongoing nationwide staffing crisis, seek significantly more flexibility in their work arrangements, including the ability to self-schedule the days and shift times they work.
Those are the key findings from new research comprised of survey responses from more than 500 frontline nurses, 96 percent of whom are registered nurses, with the remainder including advanced practice registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses and licensed practical nurses.
The study was commissioned by Works, an industry-pioneering workforce management platform that helps health systems drive clinical cost savings and bolsters nurse retention through a new mobile app enabled centralized staffing model, using Trusted Health’s database of over 500,000 registered clinicians.
Among the key findings of the research:
- Asked to rank their most preferred ways of gaining more flexibility in their work schedules, 64 percent ranked “self-scheduling” first among 12 options, which included part-time work with hour requirements, hybrid shift lengths and hybrid roles, gig work without hour requirements, among others.
- 61 percent of nurses said they defined self-scheduling as being able to work the type of shift they desire (4 shifts of 10 hours each per week, or 5 shifts of 8 hours each per week, etc.)
- Nurses see the lack of control over when they work as a significant barrier to sustaining their clinical nursing career long-term. 33 percent of nurses cited the lack of control over what days they work and 24 percent cited the need to schedule their life 4-6 weeks at a time as barriers to feeling fulfilled in their career.
“Nurses have a direct impact on the quality of patient care and in driving healthy patient outcomes, and when veteran nurses leave the profession due to a lack of work/life balance, our health systems suffer,” said Lennie Sliwinski, founder and CEO of Trusted Health. “To retain their nursing workforce and help nurses be more effective, health systems should offer nurses more control over their scheduling, giving them more autonomy and predictability in when they will work and reducing staffing gaps that could impact care.”
The Works team has published a whitepaper detailing the research findings and providing key recommendations for health systems. These include offering partial shifts or hybrid shift lengths, not relying on nurses to fill just-in-time shift requirements, offering nurses the option to work extra hours on their terms, and reconsidering the use of internal travel programs and rotational programs.
