AONL Survey Shows Well-being, Staff Shortages as Significant Challenges

AONL this week released the findings of the third survey of nurse leaders in its COVID Insight Study. During a streamed event, American Hospital Association Chief Nursing Officer and AONL CEO Robyn Begley, DNP, RN, and AONL President Mary Ann Fuchs, DNP, RN, discussed the survey with the study's principal researcher Daryl Joslin. The findings from 1,781 respondents showed that nurse leaders saw their top three challenges as staff emotional health and well-being; surge staffing, training and staff reallocation; and staff retention, furloughs, and layoffs. In addition, 20% of nurse leaders say they plan to leave the profession. “The data tells a somber story,” said Fuchs, system chief nurse executive and vice president of patient care services at Duke Health in Durham, N.C. Respondents noted staffing shortages as the biggest challenge not present six to eight months ago that they now face. To counter shortages, respondents said they were increasing pay, using float pools, partnering with nursing schools and using flexible scheduling. The event is archived and available on the AONL YouTube channel and the AONL Facebook page. The study was funded by the AONL Foundation for Nursing Leadership Research and Education.