Building Effective Long-term Retention Strategies for Healthcare Systems

The state of the nursing workforce is navigating an inconsistent distribution, yet growing nursing supply across the country and according to the Florida Hospital Association (2024) lowering turnover rates in some areas (McGhee, 2025). Regardless, one issue still persists, retaining and engaging skilled nurses throughout their career. While recruitment often takes the spotlight, long-term retention is where sustainable impact is made. 

One study found nurses who feel supported, valued, and invested in are more likely to remain in their roles, a path that provides stability for patients and healthcare systems alike (Pressley, 2023). By optimizing the transition to practice experience, offering opportunities to advance practice, and providing effective mentorship programs, healthcare systems can retain nursing talent long-term. 

Nurturing the Transition to Practice Experience

An effective transition to practice experience is the first step in the long-term retention of nurses, as the highest number of RNs exit the profession within their first 5 years of practice (NSI, 2025). According to one study, nurses who transitioned with the support of a program experienced higher confidence in their practice and improved retention (Lee, 2024). Without the right support during the transition experience, many new graduates experience high levels of stress, uncertainty, and burnout, leading to early turnover. To mitigate these effects, resident apprenticeship programs focus on clinical practice refinement and developing emotional intelligence to create confident and competent caregivers. 

Online learning modules that supplement clinical experiences have been shown to improve and help to further develop a novice nurse’s clinical competence (Gao, 2025). Through the use of these modules, novice nurses are able to build confidence in their practice by connecting their new experiences on the floor to related clinical concepts. Supplementing clinical practice in this way, deepens a novice RN's understanding and decreases their time to productivity. Resident apprenticeship programs also teach new nurses how to debrief, self-evaluate, and empathize with patients to improve their emotional intelligence and resilience long-term. 

Professional Development Opportunities

Retention doesn’t end with the transition to practice experience. Nurses need continuous opportunities to develop their skills, expand their expertise, and advance in their careers. The key to long-term retention is offering professional development opportunities that allow experienced nurses to advance their practice while supporting healthcare systems in nurturing a robust nursing workforce (Miller, 2024). 

Specialty RN Fellow Programs offer a pathway for experienced nurses to explore their interests in various specialties in nursing including perinatal, perioperative, emergency, acute care, and critical care. With this education, experienced nurses expand their clinical expertise while encouraging leadership skills that help learners own their practice. Through these specialty programs, experienced RNs are able to increase their job satisfaction while healthcare systems gain a more skilled workforce. 

Effective Mentorship Programs

Professional relationships are an integral element in helping first-year RNs acclimate to their new workplace. One study noted that mentorship programs make an impact on retention and the transition to practice experience for novice RNs (Gularte-Rinaldo, 2023). Making effective mentorship programs a crucial tool in strengthening the nursing workforce pipeline. Experienced nurses who guide, support, and advocate for novice nurses create a culture of belonging and preceptor/ mentor development programs support them on this journey. 

Although nurses use their teaching skills everyday, learning programs that cover different learning styles, effective communication, and methods for feedback, develop leadership skills and help nursing preceptors/ mentors optimize their time with mentees. A study on how preceptor training courses impact clinical teaching behavior noted a positive relation between the two (Hong, 2021). As more experienced nurses open a space for communication, they foster resilience, encourage practice refinement, and promote continuing learning in the next generation of nurses. By utilizing preceptor/ mentor development programs alongside mentorship programs, healthcare systems can boost retention of new nurses while also re-engaging veteran staff, giving them renewed purpose as leaders and role models. 

For healthcare systems, building long-term retention strategies is about creating a culture where nurses are supported from their first day through every stage of their career. By optimizing the transition to practice experience, investing in Specialty RN Programs, and supporting mentorship development, organizations can reduce turnover, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen the foundation of care for the future. 

References

Auerbach, D.., Buerhaus, P., Donelan, K. (2024). Projecting the future registered nurse workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Health Forum, 5(2). https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2815057 

Florida Hospital Association. (2024, September 12). Press release - New data reveals significant improvements to Florida’s health care workforce shortage. https://www.fha.org/FHA/FHA/News-Content/New-Releases/091224%20Vacancy%20and%20Turnover%20Data%20Release.aspx 

Gao, Y., Ding, X., Xu, J., Zhang, W., Huang, Y., Mo, M., & Li, Y. (2025). The impact of clinical pathway teaching combined with objective structural clinical examination (OSCE) on nursing performance and clinical competence of new ICU nurses: a quasi-experimental study. BMC Nursing, 24(1), 604. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-025-03224-4 

Gularte-Rinaldo, J., Baumgardner, R., Tilton, T., & Brailoff, V. (2023). Mentorship respect study: A nurse mentorship program's impact on transition to practice and decision to remain in nursing for newly graduated nurses. Nurse Leader, 21(2), 262–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2022.07.003 

Hong, K. J., & Yoon, H. J. (2021). Effect of nurses' preceptorship experience in educating new graduate nurses and preceptor training courses on clinical teaching behavior. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3), 975. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030975 

Lee M. M. D. (2024). Improving new graduate nurse retention with a transition to emergency nursing practice program. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 50(2), 178–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2023.11.003 

McGhee, M. (2025, February 24). A crisis by the numbers: Nursing shortages in 2025 by state. Yahoo!Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crisis-numbers-nursing-shortages-2025-163000209.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAwzFguv_WBH3uf63JMoIqq7Ovn4D_LRSAsEJg3HiqGu8qzaBSBDJKlcIgFsDSvRLYY6iq_KT_fSCe93ChAMw53T8uwWanwPzf06dSPf2apDJ8nL0WxYTKB6G-V4zBF5CJktpLDirimfIJAVw5VUj1R-f2HJU87Itz7Ylr2Y1WDS 

Miller, T. (2024, April 11). Leveraging professional development opportunities to enhance nurse retention. Healthcare Workforce Logistics. https://blog.hwlworks.com/leveraging-professional-development-opportunities-to-enhance-nurse-retention 

Nursing Solutions Inc. (2025). 2025 NSI nursing retention &RN staffing report. https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/Documents/Library/NSI_National_Health_Care_Retention_Report.pdf 

Pressley, C., & Garside, J. (2023). Safeguarding the retention of nurses: A systematic review on determinants of nurse's intentions to stay. Nursing Open, 10(5), 2842–2858. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1588 

To Cite This Article

Carden, I. (2025, September 16). Building effective long-term retention strategies for healthcare systems. TruMont. https://www.trumont.org/news-updates/building-effective-long-term-retention-strategies-for-healthcare-systems