Digitizing Competency Management to Improve Nurse Retention and Patient Care

Across the globe, healthcare systems are facing a severe shortage of qualified nurses, an issue that is not new but one that has been exacerbated by a confluence of factors – ranging from demographic shifts to the fallout from COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, the World Health Organization reported a global shortfall of 5.9 million nurses. The gap has since increased significantly and is expected to continue widening as the demand for nurses rises. In fact, the International Council of Nurses expects more than 10.6 million nurses will be required to fill the global nurse shortage gap by 2030, a number that has healthcare leaders concerned we could be headed toward a global crisis of epic proportions.

As hospitals and clinics struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels, the ramifications of this shortfall are being felt by the nurses and their patients, healthcare providers, and society at large. For example, staffing shortages and a lack of visibility into the skills of today’s nursing workforce has resulted in a greater risk of nurses being put into positions of treating critically ill patients without the proper competency. If a nurse makes a mistake in any way that harms the patient, they may be held liable. This added pressure to perform under extreme circumstances, combined with being overworked, is a major cause for widespread nursing fatigue and burnout, which can put patients and the entire health system at risk. According to a 2018 Gallup poll, employee burnout can trigger a downward spiral in individual and organizational performance. The same poll revealed that burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job. Additionally, an article in the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development indicates that preceptors, who are crucial to the onboarding process, are experiencing fatigue due to the revolving door of nurse turnover. Preceptor burnout can have a compounding effect on retention rates as nurses seek employers who can provide engaged and comprehensive orientation.

And that’s exactly what’s happening in nursing, with 18% of new nurses changing jobs or even professions within the first year after graduation. An additional one-third leaves within two years. Nationally, the nursing turnover rate averages 19.1% and is expected to increase, with a nursing vacancy rate of 8%. The American Nurses Association attributes this epidemic of burnout to a variety of factors, including unsafe and unmanageable patient loads, unsustainable working conditions, chronic stress levels and compassion fatigue, inexperienced leadership stepping in to care for patients in response to retiring healthcare administrators, and a lack of career progression options, among others. 

These conditions may only worsen as millions of specialized nurses are expected to retire in the coming years, putting further strain on the current, overburdened workforce. The impact of nurse turnover also extends to a health system’s financial performance, influencing expenditures on recruitment, orientation, and training, alongside the allocation of hospital resources dedicated to patient care initiatives.

If healthcare leaders had more visibility into their staff’s skills, abilities, proficiencies and overall competencies, they could take actions to minimize poor working conditions and remove unnecessary stressors that lead to fatigue and burnout. 

However, many healthcare organizations still rely on manual, paper-based methods for managing competencies. These processes are cumbersome, time-consuming, and prone to inefficiencies compared to modern digital competency management systems that can provide health systems with deep, actionable insights into their workforce’s granular skills and competency data. For example, digitized data can help administrators fill vacancies by acting as a guide for hiring nurses that specifically meet critical patient care requirements or identify the areas where the younger generations of their nursing staff could be trained and developed. 

Let’s take a closer look at three ways digitizing competency management can get to the heart of the problems plaguing today’s nurses and deliver outcomes for a better future.

Competency-Based Career Progression

As the world becomes more connected, today’s workforces have more opportunities for career advancement than ever before, especially for in-demand positions like those in the healthcare field. The availability of career options has significantly reduced retention among nurses who tend to follow opportunities in or out of the nursing profession as they arise. Nursing burnout and fatigue only worsen this problem, putting a strain on healthcare systems, which had for so long relied on the longevity and experience of their staff. This new reality is forcing health leaders to reevaluate their retention strategies.

According to a recent Deloitte survey of more than 1,200 professionals and organizations, 74% of surveyed workers and 78% of surveyed business leaders are in favor of shifting away from rewards based on jobs, level, and performance to systems that prioritize competency-based pay and rewards. What’s particularly relevant to nursing burnout is that 76% of surveyed workers reported that competency-based pay would improve their experience at work, while 74% said nonmonetary recognition for skills would be likewise beneficial. This evidence suggests that health systems that have historically relied on tenure-based promotion would stand to benefit from encouraging growth within their organizations based on skills, rather than tenure. 

Organizations that focus on rewarding nurses for gaining new skill sets, completing training programs, accomplishing clinical achievements, continuing education credits, or participating in professional organizations will have more success in motivating nurses toward career engagement and advancement. Likewise, tying these accomplishments to increased compensation inspires nurses to meet higher-level skill expectations and, ultimately, provide better quality patient care. This is where a digitized nursing competency management program can provide a platform for health leaders to track these competency-based rewards programs effectively, while demonstrating to nurses that leadership is invested in them and genuinely interested in their growth. This fosters a healthy sense of rapport and community within the health system for everyone, improving workplace culture, reducing burnout, and increasing retention rates.

Career Visibility and Transparency

Visibility into one’s career progression is a major motivator no matter what industry a person is employed in, and nursing is no exception. But too often nurses lack a clear picture of their development and career paths, as traditional methods don’t offer easy access to centralized data where their competency profiles are stored and updated. Instead, competency assessment records might be scattered across various paper-based files or in siloed HRIS systems that are not integrated with a digitized competency management system. This fragmentation makes it difficult for nurses to get a comprehensive view of their skillsets and areas for improvement. Meanwhile, the lack of transparency leaves nurses feeling disconnected from the decision-making processes related to their career advancement.

But this doesn’t have to be the case, especially in today’s digital world where tools are available to mitigate these problems. Healthcare systems can digitize competency management to streamline and automate initial orientation and ongoing training and development. This not only gives nurses, managers, and leaders access to the same documentation at the same time but opens the lines of communication between team members and empowers nurses to have a voice in how they progress in their roles. By gaining insight into unfulfilled training requirements or identifying the next steps they need to take in clinical ladder programs, nurses can better understand the skills or experiences needed to accomplish their goals.

Flexible Work Options

The rise of digitization has opened up an entirely new world of options for the workplace, especially for those in the nursing profession. Whether working remotely in some cases, travelling from state to state, or transferring from unit to unit, nurses are no longer bound to a single unit at a specific location. But this flexibility presents challenges because many organizations don’t have a clear picture of each nurse’s competencies, largely because of insufficient data collection and distribution methods. A digital competency management solution, however, provides that validated skills data needed to ensure all parties are aware of each nurse’s capabilities, allowing nurses to seamlessly move from unit to unit or work independently.

Acting as a sort of skills “passport,” the digitization of a nurse’s skills proves which competencies have already been completed, enabling them to begin applying this knowledge and caring for patients immediately upon arrival at various locations – without having to unnecessarily undergo redundant onboarding procedures at each location. This “passport” also creates opportunities for cross-training between units. By taking advantage of this transferability and requiring that skilling opportunities be satisfactorily completed prior to an internal transfer, healthcare organizations open opportunities for nurses to move fluidly throughout the health system and reduce the risk of patient harm. Nurses can pick up shifts easily, which resolves some of the vacancy rates and gives nurses a sense of control in their career progression.

Conclusion

As health systems look to the future, it’s clear the traditional way of managing competencies will not suffice. If nothing changes, administrators will continue to face manual, laborious, and burdensome administrative tasks daily, which take away from the work they truly care about: helping nurses thrive and provide quality care for patients. Instead, health leaders who take advantage of a digitized competency management program for orientations, staffing, learning, professional growth, or clinical ladder programs can seamlessly establish nursing competence throughout their organizations. Such a move could revolutionize nurse satisfaction and patient care and safety, leading to a future where nurses feel more valued, empowered and equipped to perform at the top of their licensure for each of their patients.