A rising demand for adequate nurse staffing is pushing some hospitals to expand their recruitment strategies to nurses who had left the bedside.

Adequate staffing made national headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been a core issue for many hospitals ever since. But in the last year, its importance has become central as studies and organizations hone in on staffing levels as a key issue in the industry.

A Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania survey found the majority of nurses who left bedside roles in recent years are willing to return, and adequate staffing levels are the factor that would reattract them.

Another study of U.S. magnet hospitals found facilities where nurses report “enough nurses to get the work done” have better physician outcomes.

The Joint Commission has formally recognized nurse staffing as a national performance goal, meaning hospitals seeking accreditation must meet certain standards related to staffing and oversight.

Adequate staffing is also still at the center of many union negotiations and nurse strikes.

Becker’s reached out to CNOs to find out if they are actively working on recruiting nurses back to the bedside. Every nurse leader said it is, but the ways they attract nurses back to the bedside differs.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Maribeth McLaughlin, BSN, RN. Chief Nurse Executive and Vice President of Patient Care Services at UPMC (Pittsburg): Every nurse is part of the pipeline. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve left for ambulatory care, virtual nursing, work-from-home, we’re looking to bring any and all of them back to the bedside. As part of that effort, we looked at our education model and asked: how do we build something that supports the new graduate, the brand-new nurse straight out of school, as well as the returning nurse?

What we moved to is a system known as the tiered skill acquisition model. It’s an evidence-based model that allows us to standardize our approach so that everyone receives all the necessary components, while also individualizing it based on where each nurse is in their journey. The tiered structure ensures everyone gets the right resources and materials, but it’s flexible enough to meet each nurse where they are. For a nurse who’s returning to the bedside, probably the biggest challenge is technology. Many returning nurses still have their critical thinking skills intact; it’s really about bringing those skills back to the forefront and getting them current on the technology. We tailor their orientation accordingly.

An experienced nurse who’s been away is still looking for work-life harmony. They’re trying to find what they need to make work fit within their life. That’s where our career ladder and our various programs come in.

We also allow people to come in and shadow. I actually just spoke with a nurse who has been working alongside physicians in research, is moving back to the Pittsburgh region, and wants to explore returning to the bedside. She hasn’t done it in a long time, but she’s feeling disconnected from her patients. We talked about how we could bring her in, let her shadow for a while, and I spent a good amount of time speaking with her individually about this life change, because I think that matters. It’s not just about “come back and get a job.” It has to work within the whole of their life. Making sure it’s a good fit from the beginning is another critical piece of what we do.

Deana Sievert, DNP, MSN, RN. Senior Vice President and CNO at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): We see tremendous value in recruiting nurses who left the bedside and helping them get back to caring for patients again. While we are fortunate to have many tenured staff who remain at the bedside — speaking volumes to our strong nursing culture — we are still focused on trying to bringing more back into these roles.

For example, we have boomerang campaigns where we reach out to eligible staff who have left and simply invite them back. Sometimes we find that staff end up realizing the “grass is not always greener,” and they are very interested in returning to Rush. We will be adding new, regular touchpoints with those who have left to highlight new opportunities that become available and would be a good fit for a former nurse. The focus there is to keep connecting until something resonates with them to consider returning.

But more importantly, we are working hard to not lose them from the bedside in the first place. Rush is fortunate to have a robust shared governance system in place that helps us work with the tenured staff to better meet their needs. One of the messages we recently received was the need to find different ways to recognize our tenured staff with more than 15 years at the bedside.

We are also working closely with those seasoned nurses to design different staffing models that allow for fewer weekend commitments, fewer holiday commitments and other perks that our nurses have identified as things they would appreciate.

Courtney Vose, DNP, RN. Senior Vice President and CNO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Hospital: There is only one thing that enhances great nursing — the added value of wisdom and experience. We work in close partnership with our nursing leaders, talent acquisition, finance and marketing to build strong, sustainable pipelines across every care area. Safe staffing, defined by us as staffing that fully accounts for volume, acuity and workload, is our number one priority.

We review our staffing performance three times a day and continuously adjust our plans based on real-time feedback from frontline RNs. This disciplined, data-driven approach strengthens the resilience of our current team, accelerates recruitment and creates the conditions that invite experienced nurses back to the bedside.

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