Generational Differences in the Nursing Workforce

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

This past week, I was interviewed by Robin Farmer from the Minority Nurse about generational differences in the nursing workforce. She asked an important question – is some of what we are seeing just differences in one’s life stage versus a true generational difference? There are certainly some differences such as communication preferences, use of technology and ideas about work-life balance that do seem to be unique to our younger generation of nurses. Some differences probably are reflective of just being at different stages of life and career —- such as a need for career stability and coaching/mentoring. Understanding the needs of generations is important for nurse leaders to maintain an engaged staff and do future planning. That is why the findings in a new nationwide study of Registered Nurses released this week by AMN Healthcare provide some important guidance.

The AMI online study was conducted in April 2013. It had a relatively low return rate of 3.36% (3413 responses from a sample of 101, 431) so there are limitations to generalizing the findings to the nationwide workforce of 3.1 million. Yet, the following represent some interesting trends found in the research:

Younger nurses (19-39) are more likely to encourage others to become nurses.
Younger nurses (19-39) work a shorter work week than many of their older colleagues.
23% of nurses over 55 plan to dramatically change their work-life in the near future (citing retirement, moving to non-nursing work or reducing hours to part-time).
Younger nurses (19-39) are more likely to plan to pursue higher education (either a BSN or MSN).
Over 70% of nurses over 55 have no plans to pursue either a BSN or MSN.
Less than 50% of nurses (all age groups) with an associate or diploma degree plan to pursue a BSN.
Younger nurses (19-39) are less likely to be certified but more likely to plan to become certified.
67% of younger nurses indicate that the implementation of the EMR has positively impacted their job satisfaction versus 45% of nurses over 55.
Younger nurses (19-39) are more likely to feel that the EMR has increased their productivity and time management.
66% of nurses over 55 feel that the quality of nursing care has generally declined versus 37% of younger nurses.
56% of nurses over 55 and 47% of nurses 40-54 believe that nursing is less dynamic, rewarding and robust today versus 31% of younger nurses.
Younger nurses (19-39) are more confident about the future supply of nurses than their older colleagues.

An important finding in this study is that the percentage of nurses who seem willing to pursue the BSN is far below the numbers that will be needed to meet the 80% target by 2020 set in the Institute of Medicine Report. It also appears the EMR is an important career satisfier for younger nurses who believe that it has improved productivity. The generational differences in career plans are expected but the plans of 23% of nurses over 55 to either reduce hours or stop working in the very near future is a red flag. This could translate in a loss of up to 187,200 nurses nationwide. These are trends that will impact the future of healthcare and should be part of nurse leader strategic planning.

Read to Lead

AMN Health (2013). 2013_RNSurvey. Whitepaper.