Retention of retiring nurses (with the right fit of skills and experience) in supernumery positions to mentor and provide pastoral care

Student nurses need safe and skilled learning opportunities that will increase the likelihood of retention to graduation. Currently attrition rates are approximately 50%.

There is a limit to the number of clinical placements that can be provided due to the limits on the number of skilled registered nurses available to provide safe learning opportunities.

In our current context 1 in 5 nurses are looking to retire in the next 5 years. In 2020, 43% of nurses were over the age of 50. In 2020, 20% of nurses were over 60 and this number is growing. The work environment is highly stressful and more so for older nurses. Many of these nurses would choose to stay in clinical practice if they were able to find a position that did not lead to complete exhaustion at the end of each day due to the high workloads and nurse shortages

Idea: Increase the number of student nurse placements by funding the education sector to employ these older nurses in supernummary positions to teach, mentor and provide pastoral care to:

a. student nurses

b. IQNs

c. new nurse employees who have changed clinical specialties

d.HCAs and people who are on the Ara pathway.

Rationale: the older nurses will retire taking their skill and experience with them. Currently registered and enrolled nurses cannot provide appropriate safe learning experiences that meet the needs of the above as their workloads are too high.  

Incentivising these nurses to stay in clinical practice will support increased number of clinical placements, safe orientation to new areas of practice for IQNs, new graduates and new employees, and provide consistency in learning experiences via the learning pathways.

Ensuring that learning experiences are culturally safe is very important as attrition rates for Maori and Pasifica students is very high. Retaining these students through to graduation will support the health and wellbeing of their communities.