SHAPING NURSING'S FUTURE POST PANDEMIC
It is an understatement to say that the last few years have been tough for nursing. While we hoped that 2021 would be better as the pandemic dwindled, we had no idea that multiple variants would emerge and that the health care system wouldn't fully recover from 2020. Nurses are leaving the profession, retiring early, or securing non-health care jobs. Hospitals are understaffed, intensive care unit beds are scarce, and the work is strenuous and emotionally draining. The travel nurse business is booming, and nurses are being paid "big bucks" to travel and provide patient care. I have heard that several nurses around the country have resigned their current jobs and signed up as a traveler in the same hospital! The Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, conducts a biennial survey of the state's nursing workforce for the California Board of Registered Nursing. According to Joanne Spetz, PhD, director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, older nurses indicated that they are accelerating their retirement plans, and there was a notable decrease in the share of RNs 55 years and older who were working in fall 2020 compared with fall 2018. Many nurses reported concerns about their own and their family's health, as well as challenges caring for children during childcare and school closures.1 We have a lot of work to do and doing it the same way we always have is not an option.
As we continue to work toward preparing new nurses to practice, create new models of care, we are in the midst of yet another nursing shortage and both in service and in academia. Although we are resilient, we wonder how much longer can we go on like this? Something needs to change. Health care in the United States is still fragmented, siloed, competitive, and costly. During the last few years, we have pivoted in ways we never knew could happen. Nurse leaders from around the country have contributed to this issue on Shaping Nurse's Future Postpandemic with innovative programs they have created such as strong integrated academic-clinical partnership models as discussed by Dr Doreen Harper and colleagues. Their team approach to preparing for the COVID-19 surges is well documented, and we can learn from their experience. The importance of formal academic-clinical partnerships is demonstrated in the literature and in this issue. As relationships within the health care system become more essential than ever, Dr Nancye Feistritzer and colleagues write about the postpandemic future and describe a conceptual model to illustrate relationships in a complex adaptive system (CAS). Health care systems are an example of a CAS, and nurse leaders are well positioned to navigate throughout.
Another emergence postpandemic is the growth of telehealth as a standard of practice. It seems that overnight, health care systems implemented robust telehealth programs to address the need for virtual care. Dr Maria Shirey and colleagues share with us the development of their telehealth fair to build capacity in the use of telehealth technology within a primary care setting at University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Nursing leadership is critical to the rebuilding of our health care systems postpandemic. We must remember to take care of ourselves, create succession plans, and enjoy the little things as we push through these turbulent times. The National Academy of Medicine's Future of Nursing report 2020-2030's recommendation # 3 resonates with me: Promoting Nurses' Health and Well-being.2 By 2021, nursing education programs, employers, nursing leaders, licensing boards, and nursing organizations should initiate the implementation of structures, systems, and evidence-based interventions to promote nurses' health and well-being, especially as they take on new roles to advance health equity.
We have a long way to go, especially in the midst of a pandemic as it is challenging. I encourage you to read the report as we strategize for the future of nursing.
Our upcoming issues will be focused on topics such as Educational Innovations in Reshaping the Nursing Workforce, Leadership Outside of the Hospital Walls, and Innovative Health Care Models Postpandemic. I hope to see many of you at the annual American Organization for Nursing Leadership's annual conference in April. Thank you for all you do for nursing, our patients, and our communities.
-KT Waxman, DNP, MBA, RN, CNL, CHSE, CENP, FSSH, FAONL, FAAN
Editor-in-Chief
Nursing Administration Quarterly
REFERENCES