At Beaumont Hospital, Chief Nurse Executive Valentina Gokenbach said the hospital has been able to improve nurse satisfaction by creating a nursing council that ensures that nurses play a role in hospital decisions. The hospital is also providing leadership training to nurses who ascend to management positions.
The hospital's efforts have had a great effect, Gokenbach said: In six years, the nurse turnover rate at Beaumont's emergency department has dropped from 52 percent to below 10 percent.
Though the training programs cost money, the decline in turnover saves more, she said. Recruiting and training each new nurse, she said, costs tens of thousands of dollars.
"It's 'pay me now or pay me later,'" Gokenbach said.
ABC News' Barbara Paulsen contributed to this report.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
Quotes delayed 15 minutes for NASDAQ. 20 minutes for NYSE and AMEX. Market Data provided by Interactive Data. Terms & Conditions.
Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions
