The assignment is a discussion board response to a student’s post **Minimum of two scholarly (peer-reviewed) references **References must be within the last 5-7 years ** This is a master’s program for nursing; answers should be in the context of nursing **This is a master’s discussion post and should be written at that level. **This is not a critique of the student’s work. **This post should build on, add to, or offer a differing viewpoint of the topic written about in the student’s post or initial prompt ** I will attach the grading rubric for reference; please contact me with any questions. The initial prompt that the student responded to below: Identify two strategies that may be implemented to improve the work environment and foster retention of staff nurses. Discuss how these stratgies relate to issues of staff recruitment and/or retention. Students Post: Jean Discussion 7 NSG 411 Nursing is the heart of healthcare and is a constantly evolving field, responsive to advances in technology and advances in evidence-based healthcare. There is a crisis occurring in healthcare, specifically in hospital-based healthcare. The crisis is the nursing shortage which has been documented and discussed for years. However, the shortage continues and has reached a critical level in which patient satisfaction and patient outcomes are affected by ever-increasing patient ratios. Increased dissatisfaction with the quality of the work environment (QWE) has led nurses to leave the bedside in droves. Strong leadership committed to career advancement and continuing education, access to the most recent technology, flexible scheduling for work-life balance, meaningful recognition, and a cohesive work environment free from bullying are all aspects that need to be pursued to improve the QWE (Keith et al., 2021). The workforce is also influenced by the retirement of baby boomer nurses, too few nursing students related to a shortage of nursing faculty, and the failure to retain new nurses after the first one to two years of professional nursing. The turnover of first-year nurses is estimated to be approximately 50% (Asber, 2019). Appropriate staffing is necessary to meet the needs of the patients. Halm (2019) states that inadequate staffing affects patient safety and nurse well-being, further eroding the quality and safety of care. Missed nursing care is a significant component of the erosion of the quality of care when nurse-patient ratios exceed what is logically appropriate. In addition, when unsafe staffing is present, the risk of occupational injuries is increased further taxing a strained system. The inability to care for patients in the manner which a nurse is trained to do brings us back to healthy work environments, nurse burnout, moral distress, and flight of nurses from the bedside. The number of nurses retiring and leaving the field outpaces the number of nurses graduating to fill the vacancies. A major contributor to this is the shortage of nurse educators. In 2017, 56,397 qualified candidates were denied entry to 197 baccalaureate programs (Gazza, 2019). The lack of capacity in the programs is directly related to the need for more nurse educators. The academic nurse educator (ANE) is a master’s degree prepared nurse but is not designated as an advanced practice nurse (APN). Gazza (2019) believes that changing the designation and clarifying the pathway to ANE would aid in alleviating this shortage. The importance of retention of the first-year professional nurse is especially important in light of the limited number of new graduates. The shortage of RNs at the bedside frequently results in the new nurse immediately taking on the professional role with clinical expectations that are not possible with limited experience. It is short-sighted to immediately utilize these nurses without providing a mentoring and residency program to assist in the transition from academic knowledge to clinical proficiency (Asber, 2019). In conclusion, creating a healthy work environment that is supportive and free from bullying is instrumental in the retention of nurses. New graduate nurses should be nurtured and clinically educated to have a smooth transition to the role of the professional nurse. Ultimately, safe staffing that allows nurses to practice to the fullest extent of their training while providing them with adequate time to engage with patients is key to the retention of a motivated nursing staff. References Asber, S. R. (2019). Retention outcomes of new graduate nurse residency programs: An integrative review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(9), 430–435. https://doi-org.wilkes.idm.oclc.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000780 Gazza, E. A. (2019). Alleviating the nurse faculty shortage: designating and preparing the academic nurse educator as an advanced practice registered nurse. Nursing Forum, 54(2), 144–148. https://doi-org.wilkes.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/nuf.12307 Halm, M. (2019). The influence of appropriate staffing and healthy work environments on patient and nurse outcomes. American Journal of Critical Care, 28(2), 152–156. https://doi-org.wilkes.idm.oclc.org/10.4037/ajcc2019938 Keith, Angela C. MSN, RN; Warshawsky, Nora Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN; Talbert, Steve Ph.D., RN. Factors that influence millennial generation nurses’ intention to stay, JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration: April 2021 – Volume 51 – Issue 4 – p 220-226 DOI: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000001001