According to Mandy Hale, vice president of nursing for DaVita, “It's really important for us as dialysis organizations to be very innovative and very laser focused on retaining our nurses, engaging them and attracting more nurses to the field of dialysis and nephrology.” Listen to this podcast, in which Christy Diehl, senior director in People Services for DaVita, interviews Mandy on why it is important to retain nephrology nurses. They also discuss how to retain these nurses and attract new ones through different types of support and training specific to nephrology. Listen and read more DaVita Medical Insights here (https://blogs.davita.com/medical-insights/?utm_source=blubrry&utm_medium=social&utm_term=display_organic&utm_content=dmi_podcasthost&utm_campaign=davitapulse20).
Podcast Transcript:
Christy Diehl: 00:30 Hi, this is Christy Diehl and I am a senior director in People Services. Thanks for joining us today. I have the privilege of being joined by Mandy Hale, our VP of nursing, and I will pass it to her to share a little bit more about herself.
Mandy Hale: 00:45 Well, thank you, Christy. Hi, I am Mandy Hale and as Christy said, I'm really privileged to serve in the role as vice president of nursing here at DaVita. I have actually had an exciting career both in health care and nephrology and at DaVita over the past about 19 years to be real specific. I actually joined DaVita as a patient care technician many years ago while I was in nursing school. And since that time, I have worked as a nurse and charge nurse, a clinical coordinator where I managed patient outcomes for my dialysis facility. And I've had the opportunity to work in several different operational roles as well. During this time, I've also been able to not only work in our in-center hemodialysis facilities, but also work in the hospital setting where we provide dialysis treatments as well. So that's a little bit about me and my background.
Christy Diehl: 01:44 Thanks, Mandy. So today we're going to talk a little bit more about how to retain new nephrology nurses, and as someone who's been a nephrology nurse for almost 20 years, we'll start with just what's your perspective on why this matters?
Mandy Hale: 02:02 Well, Christy, I'll let you know we're kind of in a perfect storm really of what could turn out to be a pretty significant nursing shortage. And that's because there's a high percentage of upcoming nurse retirement as the baby boomer generation starts to see more and more retirement. Simultaneously, we also have an increasing volume of Americans who will need and utilize health care services. And during this time, health care organizations here in the U.S. are experiencing poor retention of the nurses who they employ. So all of these things together are going to present some challenges for us in the health care system and actually already are in many places. And it's important to note that for us, the dialysis setting is not going to be immune to this nursing shortage and the talent as presented. So it's really important for us as dialysis organizations to be very innovative and very laser focused on retaining our nurses, engaging them and attracting more nurses to the field of dialysis and nephrology.
Mandy Hale: 03:15 I think more importantly or as importantly at least is this importance of patient care and the continuity in that care that occurs when nurses remain with their employers and for us in dialysis for a long period of time. There's just a whole bunch of nursing knowledge and ability to provide really high quality care that comes along with nurse retention and so for our patients being cared for by an experienced nurse is really important.
