“I don’t think we fully realize the tsunami that’s coming in less than five years,” Syl Trepanier, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer at Renton, Wash.-based Providence, told Becker’s. “It’s underestimated how many nurses will be retiring versus those entering the profession. The time to prepare is now, and I’d argue that the biggest risk we face is maintaining the status quo. The biggest risk we face is doing nothing.”
What should systems do to better prepare?
Dr. Trepanier said that bringing nurses into the conversation and letting them reshape their work to make it sustainable is the first step.
“Keeping things the way they are is a recipe for disaster,” he said.
Systems also need new models, technology and accelerated development to prepare for the future of care delivery, Greg Till, chief people officer at Providence, told Becker’s.
But even when systems are prepared, some nurses find themselves unable to retire when they want.
Sometimes, nurses can’t retire
Leaders at Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health have noticed a problem: some nurses who planned to retire can’t because they didn’t save enough.
“Unlike teachers, we don’t have guaranteed pensions — nurses have to be proactive about saving,” Veronica Scott-Fulton, DNP, chief nurse executive at Bon Secours Mercy Health, told Becker’s. “Unfortunately, many find themselves in their late 60s or 70s still working on the floor because they can’t afford to retire.”
Traditionally, organizations relied on pensions and Social Security as a retirement safety net, but “that was never truly enough,” Allan Calonge, chief people officer of core operations at Bon Secours Mercy Health, told Becker’s.
To ensure nurses can retire when they want, the system has invested in competitive saving plans and retirement planning resources. These include one-on-one coaching with professionals from Fidelity, automatic enrollment and auto-escalation for retirement accounts, and a program that gives retirees guidance on Medicare coverage.
The toll of retiring on nurses who go
Once nurses retire, there are still some lingering issues that aren’t always talked about.
“I think the loss of identity isn’t discussed enough,” Carolyn Santora, RN, chief nursing officer and chief of regulatory affairs at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital, told Becker’s. “A nurse is always a nurse, but when you retire, you lose that daily practice and patient contact. That’s a big adjustment.”
Many nurses turn to volunteer work to maintain that sense of identity and purpose.
Another issue is ensuring that the intellectual experience of retiring nurses is passed on to the next generations before they retire.
“We need to support and mentor the new nursing workforce to ensure a smooth transition,” Ms. Santora said. “The statistics are clear — many of us baby boomers are retiring, and we need to prepare for that shift.”
