The VA has several authorities designed to help recruit and retain nurses but could be making better use of them considering the challenges the department faces in that area, GAO has said.
The incentive programs mainly fall into the categories of education and training benefits, plus financial incentives, which medical centers generally can use at their discretion. GAO reviewed four centers, and found that three of them in addition had developed local incentives apart from those available department-wide.
However, despite the help those incentives provide, the centers still struggle in the face of competition from private sector medical facilities, and scarcity of nurses in rural locations where some VA centers are based. Recruitment and retention is particularly difficult for nurses with advanced professional skills, knowledge, and experience, which is critical given veterans’ needs for more complex specialized services, it added.
Those issues aside, GAO noted that headquarters no longer conducts site visits in response to a center reporting difficulties, and that there is only limited monitoring of how centers are using the facilities. The department further has not conducted evaluations of the training resources provided to nurse recruiters at centers or the overall effectiveness of the initiatives in meeting its nurse recruitment and retention goals, or whether any changes are needed, GAO said.
It said the VA agreed with recommendations to improve in those areas.
