Recent nursing strikes across the country have once again drawn attention to staffing shortages, demanding workloads, and the growing pressures facing healthcare workers. While public conversations often center on filling vacant positions, some healthcare leaders say the more pressing question is how hospitals can create environments where nurses want to build long-term careers.
For Vicki Huber, Chief Nursing Officer at Atlas Mobility, the headlines surrounding strikes point to a broader issue that extends well beyond recruitment.
“The bigger conversation is workforce sustainability,” Huber said. “Recruiting remains important, but healthcare leaders also need to focus on how nurses experience their work every day. Do they have the right support? Do workflows help or hinder patient care? Are the physical demands of the job sustainable over the course of a career?”
Those questions, she said, are just as important as staffing numbers.
Healthcare systems nationwide continue to face workforce challenges driven by an aging population, increasing patient complexity, and continued burnout among clinical staff. While many organizations have invested heavily in recruitment efforts, retaining experienced nurses has proven equally critical.
Huber believes simply adding more nurses does not address the root causes that lead many to leave the profession.
“Adding staff can help, but it does not automatically address the underlying drivers of burnout and turnover,” she said. “Nurses are balancing complex patient needs, documentation requirements, coordination across multiple disciplines, and physically demanding work every shift. Long-term sustainability comes from creating systems that allow nurses to practice efficiently and safely.”
Many of those daily challenges remain largely invisible to patients and even hospital executives who are removed from bedside care.
“The most exhausting parts of nursing are cumulative,” Huber explained. “Repeated patient handling, constant interruptions, searching for equipment, coordinating mobility assistance, and moving between direct patient care and documentation all contribute to physical and mental fatigue.”
She added that another often-overlooked challenge is ensuring frontline nurses have a voice in operational decisions.
“The best solutions are often informed by the people delivering care every day,” she said.
Rather than relying solely on large-scale initiatives, Huber believes meaningful improvements often come from practical operational changes that reduce unnecessary burdens while allowing clinicians to spend more time caring for patients.
“The most effective improvements are often practical ones: making equipment readily available, standardizing mobility processes, reducing unnecessary duplication in documentation, and ensuring nurses are supported by technology and dedicated resources where appropriate,” she said.
According to Huber, successful workflow redesign begins by observing how care is actually delivered and involving caregivers directly in the process.
“Shared governance and caregiver involvement help ensure changes improve both efficiency and patient care,” she said.
One area she believes deserves greater attention is patient mobility. While mobility programs are commonly associated with preventing complications for patients, Huber says they also play an important role in protecting caregivers.
“Safe patient mobility is not only a patient outcome initiative,” she said. “It is also a workforce strategy.”
When mobility becomes a routine part of patient care rather than an improvised task, hospitals can reduce the physical strain placed on nurses during lifts and transfers while improving consistency in patient care.
“Supporting safe mobility creates a safer environment for both patients and the clinicians caring for them,” Huber said.
Huber has seen firsthand how operational consistency can improve both caregiver satisfaction and overall hospital performance.
“The greatest improvements come from building reliable systems that support caregivers every day,” she said. “Consistent mobility practices, clear communication between teams, easy access to equipment, and workflows that reduce unnecessary delays all contribute to better patient care.”
Organizations that intentionally invest in evidence-based nursing practice, caregiver support, and patient mobility, she added, often create stronger environments for both patients and staff.
As hospitals continue searching for solutions to ongoing workforce challenges, Huber hopes healthcare leaders broaden the conversation beyond hiring alone.
“Workforce challenges are not solved through recruitment alone,” she said. “Retention improves when nurses have the tools, processes, and support needed to deliver care safely and efficiently.”
Hospital executives face difficult decisions balancing financial pressures with patient care, but Huber believes one principle remains constant.
“Their greatest asset will always be their people,” she said. “Investing in the daily work environment enables talented caregivers to do their best work, strengthening both workforce stability and patient care.”
As healthcare organizations continue navigating staffing shortages and evolving patient needs, many experts agree that long-term success will depend not only on attracting new nurses, but on creating workplaces where experienced clinicians have the support, resources, and confidence to remain at the bedside for years to come.
DISCLAIMER: No part of the article was written by The Signal editorial staff.
