NATIONAL DAILY HOSPITAL NEWS — SPECIAL REPORT
Growing Staff Retention and Performance While Reducing Staff Turnover and Burnout: SBAR, 5 Successful Case Studies, Strategies and Project Plan
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Situation
Hospitals across the United States continue to face high levels of burnout and turnover among nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers, with significant downstream effects on patient safety, satisfaction, and financial performance. Recent national data still show large proportions of clinicians reporting burnout and intent to leave their employer within a year, despite modest improvements since peak pandemic years.
Sources:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821344
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-74086-0
Background
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of 85 studies including more than 288,000 nurses found that higher levels of nurse burnout are consistently associated with poorer patient safety climate, more adverse events (falls, infections, medication errors), lower nurse-assessed quality of care, and lower patient satisfaction—confirming the tight link between staff well-being and patient outcomes.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11539016/
A 2023 systematic review of workplace interventions for nurses, physicians, and allied professionals concluded that well-designed organizational and individual interventions can improve well-being, engagement, and resilience while reducing burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression. Effective strategies included job redesign to reduce workload, peer-support networks, coaching, and structured programs focused on joy in work.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10314589/
A 2024 JAMA Network Open analysis of U.S. nurses reported that 41% of nurses worked understaffed during their most recent week, more than 40% experienced workplace violence in the prior year, and 32% planned to leave their employer within 12 months, underscoring the persistence of workforce risk even as some indicators improve.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821344
The 2025 AHA Health Care Workforce Scan summarizes widespread vacancy and turnover pressures, particularly in nursing and critical care roles, and highlights the link between workforce instability and increased labor costs, premium staffing, and compromised access. It also catalogs emerging strategies—virtual nursing, team-based models, professional well-being offices, and international recruitment—to stabilize staffing.
https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan.pdf
A 2024 study in Scientific Reports found that healthcare workers exposed to moral injury events (for example, feeling unable to provide the care patients need) had significantly higher risks of both burnout and turnover intentions, underscoring the importance of aligning staffing, workload, and organizational values.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-74086-0
In this context, hospitals that treat staff well-being and retention as a strategic priority—supported by data, leadership accountability, and structured improvement work—are demonstrating measurable gains in retention, performance, and patient outcomes.
Action — Recommended Solutions
Evidence from systematic reviews, workforce scans, and real-world case studies points to the need for systems-level interventions that go beyond individual resilience training. High-performing organizations are implementing integrated strategies that:
- Reduce avoidable workload and administrative burden.
- Strengthen voice, shared governance, and psychological safety for frontline staff.
- Build structured well-being and peer support programs with leadership accountability and transparent metrics.
- Offer flexible and innovative staffing models (for example, virtual nursing, co-care, and hybrid roles) that support retention across career stages.
Key source examples:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10314589/
https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/11/2025-Health-Care-Workforce-Scan.pdf
https://www.aonl.org/resources/Nurse-Leadership-Workforce-Compendium/Healthy-Work-Environments
The remainder of this report focuses on five successful case studies, the key quality metrics they demonstrate, and a 12-week leadership project plan to adapt these strategies in your own hospital.
Results — Five Successful Case Studies
Case Study 1 — Regional Health System + SE Healthcare: Data-Driven Clinician Well-Being
A regional health system partnered with SE Healthcare to implement a clinician burnout prevention program grounded in confidential survey data, dashboards, and targeted microlearning. The initiative emphasized leadership visibility, systematic measurement, and tailored interventions at the unit level. The program improved clinician well-being, strengthened retention, and enhanced patient care, demonstrating that a data-driven, human-centered approach can be operationalized at system scale.
Case Study 2 — Large Pediatric Hospital & Research Center: Nurse Burnout Prevention Program
A large pediatric hospital and research center implemented SE Healthcare’s Nurse Burnout Prevention Program, combining self-reported burnout surveys, dashboards, and microlearning modules for stress management and leadership development. Weekday shifts saw a 34% reduction in burnout, night shifts an 11% reduction, and several departments (for example, Clinical Logistics, Surgical Services) achieved 55–61% reductions in burnout scores; the program also generated an estimated $1.5 million in savings from reduced turnover and recruitment costs while improving patient satisfaction and reducing medical errors.
Case Study 3 — UnityPoint Clinic + VITAL WorkLife: 44% Burnout Reduction & 25% Less Turnover
UnityPoint Clinic integrated VITAL WorkLife’s Provider Well-Being Resources into a broader cultural transformation focused on normalizing help-seeking, providing confidential support, and using utilization data to guide leadership decisions. Within several years of program implementation, providers reporting moderate-to-severe burnout declined by 44%, while provider turnover decreased from 10.1% to 7.6% (a 25% reduction) and engagement with well-being services rose to 72%.
Case Study 4 — Virtual Nursing Co-Care Model in a Large Nonprofit Health System
A large nonprofit health system in North Carolina launched a virtual nursing “Co-Care” model in 2021, alternating nurses between bedside and virtual roles to balance workloads and improve support for new graduates. The program reduced administrative burden, decreased turnover at 60% of participating sites, and cut nurse vacancy rates by 80%. It also improved discharges by 2 p.m. by 17%, returned more than 1,300 hours of care to bedside staff, and reduced patient falls by nearly 30% in pilot units, with associated cost avoidance estimated between $42,000 and $406,000 annually.
https://www.aonl.org/resources/Nurse-Leadership-Workforce-Compendium/Healthy-Work-Environments
Case Study 5 — Multi-Site Burnout & Retention Efforts: International Recruitment, Well-Being Offices, and Systemwide Committees
International Nurse Workforce Strategy (Fisher-Titus Medical Center) – A workforce development initiative recruited and retained an international nursing workforce to stabilize staffing, reduce reliance on premium labor, and strengthen continuity of care.
Physician Well-Being Office and Systemwide Committees (for example, Ochsner Health, Sutter Health) – Health systems created formal professional well-being offices and interdisciplinary well-being committees, including peer support programs and workflow improvements, reporting reductions in burnout and improvements in engagement after embedding well-being into governance and strategy.
https://www.ochsner.org/about-ochsner/the-office-of-professional-well-being
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/7-things-sutter-health-did-turn-tide-physician-burnout
These examples show that integrated strategies—recruitment, onboarding, well-being infrastructure, and cross-disciplinary committees—can move burnout and turnover metrics in the right direction while reinforcing safety and quality.
Quality Metrics From These Case Studies
Nurse Burnout and Patient Outcomes (Meta-Analysis)
A 2024 meta-analysis of 85 studies found that higher nurse burnout is consistently associated with lower patient safety grades, more adverse events, and lower patient satisfaction—confirming that burnout is not just a staff issue but a core quality and safety measure.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11539016/
Workplace Well-Being Interventions and Burnout Reduction
A 2023 systematic review of workplace interventions reported that programs combining workload redesign, peer support, coaching, and structured well-being activities produced significant reductions in burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression and increased engagement and resilience among healthcare workers.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10314589/
UnityPoint Clinic – 44% Decrease in Self-Reported Burnout; 25% Reduction in Provider Turnover
UnityPoint Clinic’s well-being program, aligned with cultural transformation and leadership sponsorship, reduced self-reported moderate-to-severe burnout by 44% and lowered provider turnover from 10.1% to 7.6%, while increasing participation in support services from 19% to 72%.
https://www.vitalworklife.com/hubfs/Campaigns/UnityPoint%20case%20study/UnityPointClinic_case%20study_FINAL.pdf
Large Pediatric Hospital – Departmental Burnout Reductions up to 61% and $1.5M Annual Cost Savings
Following implementation of a nurse burnout prevention program, one pediatric hospital reported 34% reductions in weekday shift burnout, 55–61% reductions in burnout in key departments, and approximately $1.5 million in annual savings from reduced turnover and recruitment costs, alongside improved patient satisfaction and fewer medical errors.
https://sehealthcaresolutions.com/case-studies/reducing-nurse-burnout-large-pediatric-hospital-and-research-center
Virtual Nursing Model – 80% Drop in Vacancy Rates and Nearly 30% Fewer Falls
A health system’s virtual nursing Co-Care model reduced nurse vacancy rates by 80%, decreased turnover at 60% of sites, increased discharges by 2 p.m. by 17%, and reduced falls by 29.8% in one pilot unit compared with a 7.9% increase in non-pilot units.
https://www.aonl.org/resources/Nurse-Leadership-Workforce-Compendium/Healthy-Work-Environments
Turnover Intentions Among U.S. Nurses – 32% Plan to Leave Employer Within One Year
A 2024 U.S. nurse survey found that 32% of nurses intended to leave their employer within a year; 41% worked understaffed on their most recent shift and more than 40% experienced workplace violence in the prior year, reinforcing the urgency of addressing burnout and working conditions.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821344
Financial Impact of Turnover – Cost per Nurse Vacancy and Long-Term Budget Pressure
An AHA-sponsored brief estimated that filling a vacant nurse position costs more than $56,000 when recruiting, onboarding, and temporary staffing are included. Over 5–10 years, a hospital with 100 RNs could see millions in avoidable labor costs if annual turnover is reduced by even 5–10 percentage points. This figure is an assessment made today from a broad survey of currently available data and is not a robust meta-study.
https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/09/Trailblazers_Relias.pdf
Leadership Project Plan — 12-Week SBAR Implementation Roadmap
Assumption: Project kickoff is Monday, December 8, 2025. Adjust dates to your local calendar as needed.
Phase 1 — Mobilize and Diagnose (Weeks 1–3)
Week 1 (Dec 8–14, 2025) — Executive Sponsorship and Scope
- Confirm executive sponsor (for example, CNO, CMO, COO) and name a Workforce Stability & Well-Being Steering Group (HR, nursing, medical staff, quality, finance, IT).
- Approve project charter with goals (for example, “Reduce RN turnover by 5 percentage points and decrease self-reported burnout by 20% in 12 months”).
- Identify 2–3 pilot units (for example, med-surg, ICU, ED, a high-turnover clinic).
Week 2 (Dec 15–21, 2025) — Baseline Data and Voice of Staff
- Pull 12–24 months of baseline data for turnover, vacancy, premium labor costs, patient experience, and selected safety indicators in pilot units.
- Launch a short, confidential burnout and engagement survey (or use an existing tool) in pilot units; commit to sharing results transparently.
- Conduct 4–6 listening sessions or focus groups to identify top “joy barriers” and quick wins (documentation burden, schedule inflexibility, supply issues, communication gaps).
Week 3 (Dec 22–28, 2025) — Synthesize the SBAR
- Draft a concise SBAR for Workforce Stability summarizing Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendations specific to your hospital.
- Present SBAR to executive leadership and the medical executive committee; refine priorities and secure resources (time, analytics support, small improvement budget).
Phase 2 — Design and Launch Interventions (Weeks 4–8)
Week 4 (Dec 29, 2025–Jan 4, 2026) — Select Interventions and Owners
- Using survey and listening data, choose 3–5 core interventions for pilots (for example, virtual nursing or co-care elements, peer support, schedule redesign, documentation simplification, protected learning time).
- Assign an accountable leader and small cross-functional team for each intervention, with clear aims and simple metrics (for example, burnout score, voluntary turnover, schedule stability).
Week 5 (Jan 5–11, 2026) — Detailed Design
- Build standard workflows and simple checklists for each intervention (for example, how virtual or resource nurse roles support bedside staff; how peer support is triggered and documented).
- Develop a basic measurement and visual management plan (weekly run charts for each pilot unit posted in staff areas and reviewed in huddles).
Week 6 (Jan 12–18, 2026) — Communication and Training
- Hold unit-based “town hall” meetings to explain the purpose of the pilots, expectations, and how staff feedback will be used.
- Provide focused training or microlearning for each intervention (for example, 10–15 minute modules on using dashboards, documenting more efficiently, or accessing well-being resources).
Week 7 (Jan 19–25, 2026) — Go-Live in Pilot Units
- Start pilot implementation in selected units; ensure daily huddles include a brief check-in on workload, safety concerns, and staff well-being.
- Establish a rapid escalation path when staffing, violence risk, or moral distress crosses pre-defined thresholds.
Week 8 (Jan 26–Feb 1, 2026) — Early Adjustments
- Review first two weeks of data and frontline feedback; remove obvious pain points (for example, redundant documentation, confusing workflows).
- Capture 2–3 success stories (for example, fewer missed breaks, better onboarding for new staff) and share them broadly.
Phase 3 — Measure, Refine, and Scale (Weeks 9–12)
Week 9 (Feb 2–8, 2026) — Interim Evaluation
- Re-run a short burnout and engagement pulse survey in pilot units; compare to baseline.
- Convene the steering group to review quantitative and qualitative results, focusing on which interventions had the clearest impact.
Week 10 (Feb 9–15, 2026) — Strengthen High-Impact Interventions
- Expand support for the most successful pilots (for example, virtual nursing or co-care, formalized well-being check-ins, protected documentation time) and sunset or redesign low-impact activities.
- Align HR and finance to track turnover, vacancy, and premium labor costs specifically in pilot units for ROI analysis.
Week 11 (Feb 16–22, 2026) — Prepare for Scale-Up
- Develop a simple Playbook for Workforce Stability & Joy in Work summarizing what worked, what didn’t, and key implementation steps.
- Identify the next wave of units or clinics for spread (for example, all med-surg units, one additional hospital in the system).
Week 12 (Feb 23–Mar 1, 2026) — Report to Board and Commit to 12-Month Plan
- Present results and stories to the senior leadership team and board quality/finance committees, including clear metrics and projected 12-month financial impact (turnover reduction, avoided premium labor, fewer falls and readmissions).
- Approve a 12-month scale-up plan with quarterly checkpoints, ongoing measurement, and a sustained well-being governance structure (for example, a permanent Workforce Stability & Joy in Work Council reporting to the C-suite).
📍 Published at National Daily Hospital News
#HospitalOps #CMS #HealthcareWorkforce #HospitalFinance #EmergencyServices #HospitalLeader #NursingExecutive #NursingLeader #EmergencyPhysician #Nursing #Hospitals #CaseManagement #EmergencyNurse
Published as part of the National Daily Hospital News series.
Visit the archive: https://nationaldailyhospital.blogspot.com/
Connect with us:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencetepper/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Compirion
Number One Hospital Blog: https://bethenumber1hospital.blogspot.com/
© 2025 National Daily Hospital News
Principal Author: ChatGPT5
Editor: Spence Tepper
Permission to share freely given.
No comments:
Post a Comment