NURS 625 Week 7 Strategic Planning Group Project: Presentation/Paper Example

Experience Stays Here: A Two-Year Strategic Plan to Retain Late-Career Registered Nurses at Cumberland Valley Health

Abstract

Across its three hospitals and 1,140 RNs, Cumberland Valley Health loses experienced nurses aged 55 and older earlier than they intend; 38 of 61 departures in this group last year were early retirements, at an estimated replacement cost of $2.1 million. This strategic plan aims to reduce early departures among these nurses by 30% within two years. Its four objectives introduce short-shift and self-scheduling options, a phased retirement policy, 24 legacy roles in precepting, resource nursing and virtual mentoring, and compassionate leadership training for all nurse managers. The first-year cost is estimated at $612,000, against avoided replacement costs of about $640,000 a year at target. Strategies rest on recent evidence that late-career nurses value cohesive teams, compassionate leadership, flexibility and manageable workloads, and that phased retirement and mentoring support retention and knowledge transfer. Evaluation tracks early departures, intent to stay, legacy role fill rates and first-year retention of new graduates on mentored units.

Slide 1: Experience Stays Here

• A two-year retention plan for RNs aged 55 and older
• Presented to the Cumberland Valley Health executive team
• Request: approve four objectives and a $612,000 first-year budget

Speaker notes: Good afternoon. Our group is here to ask for one decision. We are asking the executive team to approve a two-year plan that keeps experienced registered nurses at the bedside and in teaching roles longer, at a first-year cost of $612,000. Over the next twelve minutes we will show you why the problem is urgent, what the evidence says late-career nurses need, what we propose and which numbers will tell us, quarter by quarter, if it is succeeding.

Slide 2: The Expertise We Are Losing

• 31% of our RNs are 55 or older
• 61 left last year; 38 left before they planned to
• About $2.1 million in replacement cost

Speaker notes: Nearly a third of our nurses are 55 or older, and more than one in five is past 60. Last year 61 nurses in this age group left us, and the exit interviews tell us 38 of them left earlier than they had intended. At roughly $56,000 to replace each experienced medical-surgical nurse, that is about $2.1 million. The cost the units feel most is different: on some night shifts, no nurse in the building has more than five years of practice.

Slide 3: Why They Leave Early

• Physical workload and long shifts
• Rigid schedules with no short-shift option
• Feeling that experience is no longer valued

Speaker notes: Our exit interviews named three reasons again and again. The research agrees. In a survey of 397 hospital nurses in Turkey, more than half planned to retire as soon as eligible, and early retirement intentions tracked with work stress, low job satisfaction, demanding hours and night or shift work. Öncü et al. (2026) also found that older nurses there were more likely to be high performers who were dissatisfied, not nurses whose ability had declined. That is the group we can still keep.

Slide 4: What Keeps Experienced Nurses

• Cohesive teams and compassionate leaders
• Flexible working patterns
• Manageable workloads

Speaker notes: The strongest evidence we found comes from a discrete choice experiment with 1,988 English nurses aged 45 to 54. Respondents would give up about 5.9% of their income for a cohesive team, 5.8% for compassionate leadership, 5.3% for flexible working and 5.2% for a manageable workload (Ejebu et al., 2026). Those figures matter for this room, because they suggest that the conditions we can change are worth as much to these nurses as a raise.

Slide 5: Our Mission Calls for This

• Compassionate, expert care for the Cumberland Valley
• Expertise passed on, not lost
• Elders as a source of wisdom

Speaker notes: This plan follows directly from our mission. We promise expert care, and expertise lives in people. Interviews with nurses over 50 found that many stay because nursing is a calling and their relationships at work give it meaning, and that they stay longer when leaders support their well-being and offer mentoring and recognition (Johanson et al., 2026). Scripture describes gray hair as a crown of glory gained in a righteous life (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Proverbs 16:31). An organization that honors its experienced nurses is acting on its values.

Slide 6: SWOT Summary

• Strengths: loyal long-tenured staff, an engaged CNO
• Weaknesses: no short shifts, no phased retirement
• Opportunities and threats: virtual roles; outpatient competitors

Speaker notes: Our strengths are real. Many of these nurses have spent decades with us, and our chief nursing officer has made retention a priority. Our weaknesses are policies we can change: we offer only twelve-hour shifts on most units and have no phased retirement option. Virtual nursing and mentoring roles give us new ways to use expertise, while physician practices and outpatient centers are recruiting the same nurses with weekday schedules.

Slide 7: Four Objectives

• Short shifts and self-scheduling on all units in 6 months
• Phased retirement policy in 9 months
• 24 legacy roles and manager training in 12 months

Speaker notes: Our goal is a 30% reduction in early departures among nurses 55 and older within two years. Four objectives support it. First, four-, six- and eight-hour shift options and self-scheduling on every inpatient unit within six months. Second, a phased retirement policy with pro-rated benefits within nine months. Third, 24 legacy roles in precepting, resource nursing and virtual mentoring within a year. Fourth, compassionate leadership training for every nurse manager within the same year.

Slide 8: Strategies That Match the Evidence

• Phased retirement with a return path
• Legacy roles that teach rather than lift
• Ceiling lifts on the two oldest units

Speaker notes: A systematic review of 84 studies on older health professionals found that easing people into retirement gradually, pairing them with protégés and investing in their health all supported retention, job satisfaction and the transfer of knowledge between generations (Kramer & Kramer, 2026). Interviews with older nurses in New Zealand add a warning: nurses who felt unseen or struggled with new technology were more likely to leave, so each legacy role will come with technology support (Chen et al., 2026).

Slide 9: Budget and Return

• First year: $612,000, including $310,000 in ceiling lifts
• Ongoing: about $300,000 a year
• At target: about $640,000 a year in avoided replacement costs

Speaker notes: The largest single cost is ceiling lifts for two older units, a one-time purchase of $310,000 that also protects younger nurses' backs. Scheduling software, the legacy role differential, manager training and a half-time coordinator bring the first year to $612,000 and later years to about $300,000. If we prevent eleven early departures a year, avoided replacement costs reach about $640,000 a year, before counting the overtime and agency hours that vacancies create.

Slide 10: Timeline

• First quarter: write policies, review them with the union, start training managers
• Second and third quarters: launch short shifts, phased retirement and the first legacy roles
• Year two: lifts in place, all 24 legacy roles filled, quarterly reporting

Speaker notes: The first quarter is spent on policy and agreement, including review with the union and human resources, because scheduling and retirement policies touch contracts. The middle of the first year brings the visible changes nurses will feel. The second year completes the lift installation, fills all 24 legacy roles and moves the plan into regular quarterly review by nursing leadership.

Slide 11: How We Will Know It Works

• Early departures of RNs 55+, by quarter
• Intent to stay, by age group
• New graduate retention on mentored units

Speaker notes: We will report early departures in this age group every quarter, along with intent to stay from the annual engagement survey broken down by age. A Dutch study of 483 hospital nurses found that the oldest respondents put balance between work and home, a supportive supervisor and professional independence ahead of the career advancement younger nurses wanted most, so our survey will ask each age group about its own priorities (Seller-Boersma et al., 2026). We will also track first-year retention of new graduates on units with legacy mentors, since keeping experience should help keep newcomers too.

Slide 12: Our Request

• Approve the four objectives
• Approve a $612,000 first-year budget
• Name an executive sponsor

Speaker notes: English research comparing nurses at the start and end of their careers found that both groups want much the same things: a better culture, adequate resources and room to grow (Ejebu et al., 2025). This plan is aimed at our most experienced nurses, but every nurse in the system will feel it. We ask you to approve the four objectives, the first-year budget and an executive sponsor who will hear our quarterly report. Thank you.

References

Chen, C., Napier, S., Holroyd, E., & Shannon, K. (2026). Organisational support for older nurses' continuation of practice: A qualitative interpretive descriptive study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 184, Article 105700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2026.105700

Ejebu, O. Z., Ellis, J., Sun, L., Ball, J., Philippou, J., Rafferty, A. M., Painter, S., & Turnbull, J. (2025). Values and workplace expectations to facilitate retention: Perspectives from nurses at two ends of the career spectrum. Journal of Nursing Management, 2025, Article 9912825. https://doi.org/10.1155/jonm/9912825

Ejebu, O. Z., Jaffry, S., Turnbull, J., Huxley, C., & Pollard, E. (2026). What retains experienced NHS nurses: Results from a discrete choice experiment in England. Health Policy, 173, Article 105719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2026.105719

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Johanson, L., Frangieh, J., Priode, K., & Hughes, V. (2026). Experiences and retention perspectives of registered nurses aged 50 and older: A qualitative descriptive study. Nursing Outlook, 74(5), Article 102892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2026.102892

Kramer, M., & Kramer, T. (2026). Recruiting and retaining older healthcare professionals: Evidence-based strategies for a resilient workforce. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 27(3), 184-200. https://doi.org/10.1177/15271544251404041

Öncü, E., Köksoy Vayısoğlu, S., Güven, Y., Peker, E., Gülgün Altıntaş, M., Kaymak, M., & Yüksel Sarı, A. (2026). Beyond age: Cognitive performance, health, job satisfaction, and work productivity profiles associated with nurses' retirement intentions. Applied Nursing Research, 91, Article 152126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2026.152126

Seller-Boersma, A., van Gunsteren, A. M., Kock, B., Jongerden, I., van Vugt, M., & Boot, C. (2026). Ranking retention factors and exploring preferred actions for retention across nursing subgroups: A cross-sectional study in two university hospitals. BMC Nursing, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-04602-2