Millennial nurses seek better personal connections with patients

As seasoned nurses retire and millennial nurses fill the ranks, educators, preceptors and nurse leaders in the workplace may need to do more to ensure new nurses develop strong interpersonal skills. Interviews and observations by a nurse manager in Long Island, N.Y., suggest many millennial nurses are often uncomfortable talking with patients and feel disconnected to their work as a result. "They described the empty experience of just completing the technical tasks of nursing," said nurse manager Heather Caramanzana, PhD, RN-BC, who studied her millennial colleagues. This experience engendered a lack of fulfillment and left them questioning their choice of nursing as a profession. Addressing millennials’ need to form better personal connections with patients may help to reduce the high turnover rates among nurses during their first two years on the job and raise facility’s HCAHPS survey scores. One 2018 study found a link between the way nurses communicate with patients and how facilities score on patient satisfaction. (HealthLeaders Media story, 7/19/19)