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YOUR PRACTICE: 5 TIPS TO ENGAGE GEN Z NURSES WITHIN YOUR MULTIGENERATIONAL TEAM

Periop Today

By: Periop Today

Published: 6/28/2023

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With projected hospital margins down and staff shortages showing no sign of
improving, 2023 healthcare trends presented earlier this year in a HealthStream
webinar by Thought Leadership Consultant Robin Rose, MHA, are coming to fruition
in many ways. She noted some key challenges in the webinar that perioperative
nurse leaders are likely feeling, including:

 * Competitive markets and tight margins that necessitate a greater focus on
   efficiency and cost-savings.
 * Technology advances to be adapted for better data analysis, team
   communication, and practice advances.
 * Staffing vacancies requiring a shift in hiring and orienting newer nurses to
   maintain high quality care and prevent costly turnover.

But where there is a challenge, there is also opportunity and that is certainly
true with another trend Rose highlighted—the surge of Gen Z nurses entering the
healthcare workforce.


ENGAGING A NEW KIND OF MUTIGENERATIONAL WORKFORCE

With staffing shortages bringing Gen Z nurses fresh out of school to orient into
perioperative care, there’s a stronger need for periop leaders to engage Gen Z
nurses in the ways they are looking for, while helping a multi-generational
workforce find common ground, according to Joanne Muyco, DNP, RN, NE-BC, CNOR,
nurse scientist in the Center for Nursing Research, Education, and Practice at
Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas.

She’s been testing evidence-based strategies to integrate Gen Z nurses into a
newly evolving multi-generational perioperative workforce and offered these five
tips to help periop leaders bridge the gaps.

 1. Know Where Gen Z Nurses Are Coming From

Gen Z is defined by change, instant connectivity, diversity, and a focus on
well-being. “They are truly one of the first generations defined by diversity,
growing up with friends from a diverse background and with more acceptance of
diversity because they have never known anything different,” Muyco said. This
means Gen Z nurses are more open and willing to share, embrace change and
champion DEI initiatives. However, she said this generation is also considered
the “new realists,” being privy to the harsher realities of the world that
grounds them in not-so-positive shared experiences such as gun violence, war,
recession, and the dark side of social media.

 2. Shift Your Recruitment Mindset

Organizations are no longer simply interviewing nurses to see if they are a good
fit for the organization. Nurses, especially Gen Z nurses, are also interviewing
the organization to see if the organization and the individual leader is a good
fit for them.

“Be sure to come to an interview ready to explain how you can provide them with
support and guidance,” she said to periop leaders, and “make sure to sell
professional development opportunities, leadership training opportunities,
scheduling options and even ways you engage as a team in community service.”

 3. Leverage “Stay” Interviews

Retention interviews are a proactive strategy that leaders are using to find out
why an employee chooses to stay and what might trigger them to leave. “Gathering
this information can help you as a leader develop an actionable plan that can be
executed to improve staff satisfaction and engagement,” Muyco said. For Gen Z
nurses, “stay interviews can help leaders understand how to bring their
individual needs into the fold of the multi-generational perioperative
workforce.”

 4. Create a Team Goal and Purpose

Do you know what your team does better or different than other teams? Building
these strengths into a shared goal is a great way to help connect Gen Z nurses
to their team, Muyco suggested. Why? “Because you are recognizing that although
each person has unique strengths, weaknesses, and contributions that that they
bring to the table, the team is united by a common goal and a shared purpose for
achieving it.”

Remember, education and professional growth is a common denominator, she added.
“As each generation comes around, they continue to pursue more education. Gen Z
also aligns with this trend and even more of them will continue on to pursue
more education and they will be looking for organizations that support lifelong
growth and learning.”

 5. Engage in Self-Reflection and Self-Awareness

By making time to reflect upon your own beliefs, attitudes, values, and
perceptions, Muyco suggested leaders will be more open and willing to hear
people out. Not doing this can lead you to making your own assumptions or
stereotypes about generational differences. “Leaders cannot afford to be unaware
of their own perspective because this can lead to very subtle actions that can
undercut the respect and progress you have and make as a multi-generational
team.”








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