6 Ways to Motivate Young Nurses From Career Stagnation

Qualified nurses are highly sought after in the career market. In fact, the employment prospects for registered nurses are projected to grow faster than the average for other occupations. This growth is expected to occur for various reasons, such as an increase in chronic conditions, a more significant number of aging individuals requiring assistance, etc.

However, nurses face tremendous stress on an everyday basis, and it's essential to keep them engaged at their job. Let's look at six ways to motivate young nurses that are feeling stagnant in their careers.

1) Encourage young nurses to interact with one another and other medical staff

Building connections with other medical colleagues helps young nurses' short-term success and meets their long-term career objectives. It would help if you took any new nurses with you to meet fellow nurses, administrators, and doctors. Doing so will help them get a jump start on networking with others at their workplace.

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Building healthy relationships at work is vital to ensure that nurses stay motivated. Furthermore, networking with other medical professionals can help nurses get out of a rut since they may come to know about other opportunities to use their skills and feel fulfilled professionally. Also, consider holding informal events at regular intervals, where nurses can interact with one another and their colleagues.

2) Help nurses in identifying areas for growth

Nurses who work in closed environments occasionally feel stagnant because future career opportunities are not immediately evident to them. For example, a nurse who specialises in maternity health, may not be aware that with a bit of training they'll be a good fit for pediatric health issues as well.

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You should help nurses who work with you to identify areas they can grow professionally. Perhaps they should consider joining a professional association, participate in workshops, get additional certifications, or even consider self-paced learning.

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3) Encourage nurses to work in different states to change their perspective

Working in a single location can turn out to be a bit stale for extended periods. It would help if you considered asking nurses to look for travel nursing opportunities. By doing so, they'll get a chance to work in different medical units in multiple states. They'll get a chance to handle a wide variety of patients of varying age groups and all backgrounds of the society.

As a result, their perspective about nursing may change as they'll get a chance to look after patients, they may not have handled earlier in their nursing career. For example, a nurse working in a hospital in an upper-income neighborhood may not have worked with patients who come from a less advantageous economic background. For a nurse, caring for different kinds of patients from all social backgrounds will leave them richer for this experience.

4) Provide regular training and development opportunities

A nurse is likely to be more engaged at work if they have a sense of their career direction and what skills they need to develop to get there. Furthermore, in-service training of nurses helps improve the quality of inpatient care.

Continuous learning is vital for professionals in all industries. In nursing, regular training will help a nurse know about the latest developments in the medical field and how to apply them in their day-to-day nursing tasks. After all, learning and development mustn't stop after a nurse has been trained in their role. Nurses should get opportunities to upskill, and providing training is an excellent way to encourage them to do so.

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5) Promote networking with the help of events

Conferences and events can be great networking opportunities for nurses to interact with other nurses and other medical staff. Consider holding events like these, or if you can't, then try to send nurses to external events and conferences.

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By attending such events, nurses get the chance to meet and also learn from peers. They get the opportunity to learn from and network with thought leaders. Nurses can benefit from networking and attending seminars and conferences by getting exposure to the latest developments in the medical and nursing fields.

Read more: How to Get the Most Out of a Networking Event

Furthermore, staying in touch with the people they networked with during the conferences will ensure that nurses have access to a wide resource of knowledge, information, and experience that they can tap into any time they need it. All this will help their motivation levels stay at a high level, and you'll see the difference in their day-to-day work activities

6) Provide nurses with emotional support

Hospital environments may take a toll on a busy nurse's emotional wellbeing. Patient mortality, having to support end-of-life patients, handling physical and verbal abuse from patients and their families - the list is practically endless. When the going gets tough, just lending a sympathetic ear can prove to make a major difference to affected nurses.

You can also consider arranging for counselling services to nurses, as sometimes professional help may be needed to assist them in regaining their perspective in the middle of sickness and death. If you provide nurses emotional support in these ways, they'll feel more valued and appreciated at their workplace. As a result, they are not likely to feel stagnant in their career and will feel more motivated towards their job.

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