Continued attention to methods for drawing forth the best
from an ageing workforce will be welcome (and vital) in the
light of the global shortfall in nurses and need to retain older
nurses. In many western countries, in recent years, experienced
nurses have had unprecedented high workforce participation
rates that have staved off the worst effects of the
shortage thus far. By the end of the next decade, many will
seek employment away from direct care delivery in hospitals
and similar settings, or, equally likely, they will retire, and so
are unlikely to sustain health care delivery this way in thefuture. More data about these nurses and their experiences is
needed. What are the characteristics of those nurses who
have survived the system? Why do some nurses, to use a
phrase from Trevor Clay, former General Secretary of the
Royal College of Nursing in the UK ‘burn’ for nursing while
others burn out? We need renewable energy sources for the
profession. Creating these sources will make significant
demands on us as educators, managers and policy makers.
Not only do we need to craft innovative solutions to recruiting
the best and target our efforts at changing generational
needs and expectations of the post-Baby Boomers generations
(X and Y), but deploy staff creatively and develop new
models of delivery that cross traditional boundaries of caregiving
settings