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Sep 10, 2020

It’s time for a nurse engagement strategy

It’s time for a nurse engagement strategy Featuring Beth Toner of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Resources Shift Nursing Podcast Revive COVID-19 Comms Resource Page Blog on the No Normal County Health Rankings Transforming Care at the Bedside Cleveland Clinic “Empathy” Video Subscribe to the Podcast & Listen On-the-Go Takeaways Learnings from an experienced health-system-marketer-turned-nurse Remembering the patients are your number one priority! Yes, your job is to bring in business…

Resources

Takeaways

Learnings from an experienced health-system-marketer-turned-nurse

  • Remembering the patients are your number one priority!
    • Yes, your job is to bring in business to the hospital or health system you work for, but it is truly all about the patients at the end of the day.
  • Have a very firm understanding of what is happening in the community you serve.
  • Use language that your target audience can actually understand, not what the physicians want you to use.
  • Internal comms and marketing all need to be talking — and you can’t forget that internal is a key audience too.

Engaging nursing staff

  • Encourage teamwork: Being in VERY close contact with the internal communication team will help marketing teams know what struggles nurses (and all staff) are facing.
  • Be genuine: Get to know actual nurses, and do from a place of genuine concern for them and their well-being, not just to gather inelegance for your own gain.
  • Ask for feedback: Ask nurses to be part of the conversation when developing materials and ask for feedback. Ask them to the table.
  • Show support: Get leadership to get out on the floor and make an effort to learn about the issues and challenges that the staff are facing.
    • They would rather have proper PPE than a pizza party.
  • Listen to needs: Needs change, and they change quickly during COVID-19.
  • Express empathy: Create a culture of empathy in your materials. Show empathy for each other and patients.

Nurse engagement strategies 

  • Don’t accept turnover as a given.
    • Nurses shouldn’t be treated as cost centers.
    • There needs to be a recognition that turnover is costly.
    • It costs less to retain an employee than it does to recruit and employee.
  • Nurses are good at telling when people aren’t being genuine and don’t want you to waste their time.
  • The messages and feedback nurses provide need to get to the right people to actually make change.
  • Engage nurses in the community, not just your employees.

Guidance on how to boost morale

  • Authenticity is key: Encourage leaders to jump in and support in any way possible, even advocating for nurse’s needs.