Clinical ladder programs have great potential for reducing turnover and increasing engagement, says this CNE. The impact of nurse turnover is no secret to CNOs. When health systems lose nurses, it has sweeping effects on the organization’s culture and budget. The average cost of turnover for a single bedside RN is $61,110, which stacks with the cost of overtime labor or contract labor to help cover the care gap. On top of that, it can take several weeks or even months to fill a vacancy in the nursing workforce. The short- and long-term implications of high turnover are similar but with differing degrees, according to Trish Celano, system chief nursing executive and associate chief clinical officer at AdventHealth. “Nursing turnover just leads us to shortages of [nurses], to increased stress, increased team member burnout, [and] workforce burnout,” Celano said. “At the end of the day it impacts patient experience as well as clinical outcomes.” Targeting turnover To combat turnover at AdventHealth, Celano and the other leaders at the organization developed a clinical ladder program for nurses. Before the program was launched in 2021, the health system’s turnover rate sat at 31.5%, and the financial implications were significant, Celano explained. “That’s just the financial implications, [and that] is just touching the surface,” said. “The impact to care delivery [is] where we see some opportunities when you talk about nursing turnover.” googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(“dfp-ad-hl_native1”); }); The clinical ladder program was implemented at six out of AdventHealth’s 57 hospitals at the beginning before…
