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Retaining Older ED Nurses

J Emerg Nurs 2004;30:525.

0099-1767/$30.00

Copyright n 2004 by the Emergency Nurses Association.

December 2004 30:6

Retaining older ED nurses

Dear Editor:

I loved your editorial in the August 2004 issue of the

Journal, bA Kubler-Ross year,Q which discusses the

leavetaking of a nurse who likely could have kept working

in the emergency department, with some modest accom-

modation of hours. I can think of emergency nurses whom

I might have been able to have kept on if I had been more

f lexible in my early days as a nurse manager and was not so

afraid of bnot being fair to everyone.Q Of course, in those

days we did not have a nursing shortage, and there was

always someone to take their place. I now am much more

aware of the value and wisdom of the bmatureQ staff and

see the benef it of working to keep them on.

I also think it is important to help the older nurses

realize all that they have to offer to the newer ED staff and

encourage them to be preceptors, write articles, and tell

their stories. As leaders in ED care, we all need to work to

make sure these nurses continue to be rewarded in some

way for their knowledge and skills, both with pay increases

and seniority issues in the department. We can be f lexible

in scheduling and offer shorter shifts, fewer holidays, and

fewer weekends.

Having said all of this, we also have to have the wisdom

to know when we do need to let someone go and to wish

them well. ED work is hard, and a time comes when nurses

realize that it is time to move on. —Donna Thomas, RN,

MSN, Director, Emergency Department and Rapid Treatment

Unit, Primary Children3s Medical Center, Salt Lake City,

Utah; E-mail: donna.thomas@ihc.com.doi: 10.1016/j.jen.2004.09.003

Available online 18 October 2004.

JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY NURSING 525