Expanding structured professional development programs enhances retention, recognizes hard work, and builds futures within an organization to combat the high turnover rates in healthcare plaguing the industry.
The healthcare industry faces significant turnover across clinical roles. A 2024 report finds healthcare turnover rates sitting at 18%for RNs, 35% for patient care technicians, and 42% for CNAs (Nursing Solutions Inc. 2024 Report).
High turnover stems from a lack of clear pathways for professional growth and meaningful recognition, driving many to seek opportunities elsewhere. Among those who leave, one of the top reasons they cited was feeling undervalued by their organization (McKinsey & Co, 2023).
Clinical ladder programs, especially digital ones, are a proven solution.According to the 2024 NHA Industry Outlook:
This is why many organizations that have an existing digital clinical ladder are now expanding to other clinical departments, offering similar opportunities for growth to more employees.
Moving to a digital platform for nursing clinical ladder programs streamlines processes for both leadership and applicants. It increases accessibility and standardizes career development opportunities across locations, ensuring employees feel valued and invested in their futures.
Several StaffGarden customers have undergone program expansions following successful implementation and growth within an initial population. One such expansion took place at Inova Health System, where VP of Professional Practice Kathy Russell-Babin spearheads shared governance and nurse excellence initiatives using the StaffGarden clinical ladder.
“We used to have disconnected spreadsheets to identify nurses' degrees, certifications, etc. … which made it hard to complete organization-wide, and was an enormous amount of work. There was too much variability even with other digital systems—we needed a standardization not only to make reporting easier but for top-level visibility to see into the workforce capabilities.”
By expanding the clinical ladder system to the organization level, Inova now takes a proactive stance in addressing challenges such as nurse retention and advancement.
“The presence of the digital clinical ladder program says to those that are in the program, ‘rest assured that you are in a quality program,’ and as a result of that, we will hopefully retain them,” Kathy said. Inova is now seeing “an increase in recruitment to around 850 new grads a year… [we’re] also seeing reduced turnover at about 2–3% year over year.”
Many organizations begin by implementing clinical ladder for nurses and then expand to other roles as the benefits become evident.
StaffGarden customers are now extending their nursing clinical ladder programs to:
This expansion supports nursing clinical ladder portfolio development and allows for tailored nursing clinical ladder project ideas across departments. It also enables organizations to streamline launches and ensure new populations can access the benefits of a clinical ladder in nursing.
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