How do we achieve that? Abolish tuition fees for healthcare courses! Prepare lateral entry shortage occupations possible and do not make those students pay high tuition fees. Make the public transport pass also available to students in the summer, so that they can also do an internship during that period and provide a good internship allowance. An important point of attention is that students often drop out due to the intense situations they encounter in practice, such as death or verbal aggression. Invest in good internship guidance and mentor programs for starting professionals. Facilitate nurses and caregivers in practice by giving them time to train their new colleagues. And oh yes, really reduce the administrative burden and rely on trust, which saves time and satisfied professionals and costs nothing.
The question that should also be much more prominent is: How can we reduce the demand for care? An excellent question that nurses, caregivers and nurse specialists can answer. Namely by investing in community-oriented prevention, in patient self-reliance, in proactive care planning and in recovery after mental illness. All effective nursing interventions that lead to less demand for care. They come to people’s homes, know the situation and see more than just the need for care.
Young professionals in particular want to contribute to sustainable nursing solutions and it gives them career prospects, a say in the future of healthcare and how their work is organized. And yes, this also makes money. The replacement costs alone for the 40,000 professionals who choose other work amount to 1.6 billion euros annually. Working on retention and more attractive work leads to lower absenteeism due to illness. And the best solutions to problems are often found in the workplace. This then offers opportunities to invest in the lagging employment conditions.
According to V&VN, all of the above is not only effective for attracting and retaining students and young professionals in healthcare, but also motivating for the retention of the 400,000 nurses, caregivers and nurse specialists in the Netherlands. So new Members of Parliament: put this topic on the agenda!