Anne Arundel Medical Center Foundation: A Community Coming Together

A N N E A R U N D E L M E D I C A L C E N T E R F O U N D AT I O N

ComingTogether A COMMUNITY

The Growing & Urgent Need to Support our Nursing Staff

Ensuring Quality Care at the Bedside As COVID-19 cases continue to emerge across the country, U.S. hospitals are struggling with a critical shortage of nurses. This is driven by retirements, career changes, moves to larger hospitals, or nursing agencies offering higher wages and larger signing bonuses. Many nurses have left demanding Emergency Department or Intensive Care Unit positions due to heightened stress, as well as difficult working conditions, resulting from the combination of the pandemic and the workforce shortage.

Adding to the crisis is the fact that one-third of the nation’s nurses are considered baby boomers, with 640,000 nearing retirement. Since 2012, roughly 60,000 RNs have exited the workforce each year, and by the end of the decade more than 70,000 RNs will be retiring annually. The retirement of one million RNs from the nursing workforce between now and 2030 will mean that their accumulated years of professional nursing experience leaves with them.

Even before the pandemic, the United States was dealing with a shortage of nurses. Now, with the combination of nurses on the front lines burning out and the imminent wave of retirements, hospitals, like LHAAMC, must hire temporary workers to fill gaps, delay some non-emergency surgeries, and even keep some beds empty that would otherwise have been available, if staffing was adequate.

At the core of these decisions is our undying commitment to ensuring the safety and care of our patients.

The impact of a national nursing shortage on care at your hospital.

—Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center

The Impact on Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center The hard truths of the nationwide nursing crisis are hitting close to home at our own hospital. Our clinical leaders are reporting significantly elevated rates of nursing burnout and difficulty filling nursing positions. In addition, the stresses of the pandemic have resulted in an increase in workplace violence towards caregivers. Our nurses state time and time again that they love our hospital and caring for this community, but the challenges of the healthcare environment are resulting in some nurses leaving to pursue higher-paying temporary agency jobs or staying at home to care for their families. In addition, a large number of highly experienced nurses are leaving hospitals because they have reached the age of retirement so there are many more newer, less experienced staff at the bedside.

Due to these factors and more, LHAAMC has had to rely on more than five times its use of temporary agency nurses. While these nurses are highly qualified and have all of the skills necessary to care for our patients, they do not have the hospital knowledge, relationships with other staff, or connectivity to our community that helps to create a cohesive care team. Furthermore, agency nurses receive almost three times the hourly rate of a staff nurse, which can build resentment among our dedicated LHAAMC employed nurses. Currently, about 150 of the 900 bedside nurses at LHAAMC are temporary agency nurses, and there are another 50 nursing positions that remain vacant. Prior to the pandemic, less than 30 nurses at LHAAMC were temporary staff. This dramatic increase in agency nurses is not what is best for patient care, patient satisfaction, and overall nursing retention.

According to a study conducted at LHAAMC in 2020, our clinical staff members are reporting significant mental health challenges.

• More than 50% of frontline health care workers report burnout • 25% of health care workers indicated that they feel anxious and/or have trouble sleeping • 75% report that they do not feel the same “joy at work” they felt prior to the pandemic due to the stresses described here

You Can Make the Difference!

To combat this growing crisis, the LHAAMC Foundation is seeking vital funds to support nursing retention, wellbeing, and education. You may have seen a recent announcement that our Board of Trustees has approved a $29 million workforce investment plan for employee incentives, including salary investments as well as new and updated benefit offerings. While this bold plan allows Luminis Health to provide compensation adjustments that are more competitive in the ever-changing market, the truth is that there is still a lot of work to be done, especially as we fight to retain the best nursing staff for patients.

Philanthropy is essential to make this happen – will you invest in your hospital to ensure your family, friends, and neighbors receive the very best in nursing care?

Together, we can ensure highest quality compassionate care at LHAAMC remains accessible to all who need us.

After all, maintaining the high standards for quality that has been a hallmark for LHAAMC for more than a century.

LHAAAMC prides itself on the patient-centered care that our community has come to expect, and nursing is at the forefront of bedside care. Our vision is to create a Center for Nursing Excellence that will fund, on an ongoing basis, things that our nurses have told us matter to them and would enable them to stay here, at the hospital they love.

Together, we can ensure highest quality compassionate care at LHAAMC remains accessible to all who need us.

Funding needs include: Student loan forgiveness for nurses that have outstanding balances on their educational loans and will commit to staying with LHAAMC for at least the next three years.

On-site advanced training so that we can keep our nurses as educated as possible in the latest best practices of care.

Family care support, such as meals to take home to their families, so that they do not feel as overwhelmed by their dual roles.

Scholarships for young nurses in their final year of nursing school, if they will commit to coming to and staying with LHAAMC for a minimum of three years.

Support care for our nurses working very long and stressful shifts that includes meals, wellbeing programs, and therapies to help them manage and stay with LHAAMC through this difficult time.

Continuing and advancing education for nurses who want to stay with LHAAMC and grow their careers and earning potential.

Counseling and support care for nurses who are struggling in this difficult pandemic environment. We need and want to keep our nurses healthy and feeling supported.

Weekend and holiday bonus stipends to ensure we have the staffing needed during these critical times.

Stipends to entice retired nurses to come back for 6-12 months to train and mentor our younger nursing corps.

Your generosity will touch the lives of thousands of people and be celebrated, and felt, far into the future.

To help address the needs of our nursing staff we have established the Center for Nursing Excellence, designed to ensure we continue to provide Magnet quality nursing care for our community, and to ensure our nursing workforce feels appreciated, supported, empowered, and celebrated.

This fund will be fueled by donations of all sizes, as every dollar makes an impact. It is also our hope that this vision, and commitment to nursing at LHAAMC, will at some point inspire a transformational pledged and/or planned gift to name the fund in someone’s honor or memory, leaving a legacy of care for our nurses who remain the heart and soul of your hospital.

We cannot care for our community if we do not care for our caregivers. They are the ones who bring our mission to life every hour of every day.

Please consider making a gift to support LHAAMC’s Center for Nursing Excellence today.