ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida hospitals are seeing a big drop in nursing vacancies this year.
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The Florida Hospital Association reports the nursing vacancy rate is at 7.8%. That’s below the national rate of 9.9%.
“We had high turnover, high vacancy, we were blessed by the traveler nurses” Cathy Stankiewicz, the Chief Nursing Officer for the Central Florida division of AdventHealth, said.
The medical field was not immune to impacts from the Covid-19 Pandemic. From burn out to the quality of pay, many left the industry altogether.
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Four years later, Stankiewicz said the organization has rebounded.
“We really needed to make nurse recruitment and retention our top priority because nurses are extremely important.”
That is the work being done right now.
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AdventHealth Central Florida hospital’s vacancy rate is currently 2.6%. That is below the state and national average, all according to the Florida Hospital Association.
Since 2020, Stankiewicz told us 10,000 RNs have been hired across Central Florida. Of those, more than 2,000 are newly added positions. AdventHealth has reduced the use of travel nurses by 98%.
“We know that the team-based care and focus is the best way our community gets high-quality whole-person care,” Stankiewicz said.
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Stankiewicz said by listening to what the nurses want, investing millions in pay raises, tuition assistance, and nursing schools themselves, it encouraged qualified workers to stay in Central Florida.
“We are creating a team that allows that registered nurse to do the work they do best and ensure they are practicing at the top of their license, ultimately to make sure our patients get the best high-quality care.”
AdventHealth has its own school to help fill these high-demand jobs.
More information on AdventHealth University’s program can be found here.
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