Who We Are
About Valerius Consulting
Why Us?
This website offers mentorship, consultation, and resources to student nurses, active and inactive nurses working in a clinical setting, and new-to-practice nurse leaders. Having each worked in the health-care field for more than twenty-five years, our team is positioned to provide guidance to nurses or nurse leaders looking for solutions to challenging problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a paradigm shift for the profession. The pandemic combined with the preexisting nursing shortage has only highlighted the crisis we face as nurses. According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, the world will be short 5.7 million nurses. Today, there are 3 million open nursing positions in the United States. We might ask, what is the reason for this shortage? Researchers point to the rapid increase in the population of people over sixty-five, which increased from 41 million in 2011 to 71 million in 2019. In the United States, the nursing shortage is forecast to continue until 2030.
Making matters more dire, approximately one-fifth of nurses plan to retire within the next five years. Retiring nurses also means retiring nursing faculty, which translates to fewer nurses being trained to fill the gaps. With the concurrent increase in nursing turnover and high vacancy rates, nurses who are proficient and a resource for other nurses have left the field. Among new-to-practice nurses, almost 18 percent leave their job within the first year.
The high vacancy rate has led many leaders to prematurely put nurses still in need of mentoring and support into leadership roles. As we all know, the nursing shortage can lead to errors, higher morbidity, and higher mortality rates in practice. Recently, a former nurse was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient who was accidentally given the wrong medication. As nurse leaders, we need to provide the resources and tools our nurses need to practice safely. This case could open the door for the criminalization of medical error, compounding the profession’s problem.
The team at Valerius Consulting are dedicated professionals with more than twenty-five years of experience each—a combined 125 years of practice: in medical-surgical nursing, critical care, emergency services, perioperative services, maternal child health, ambulatory care, and many leadership roles, including manager, nurse educator, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, director of nursing, and vice president of nursing. Our team is primed to address your organization’s quality and safety needs; your finance, operations, and leadership concerns; and your questions about recruitment and retention of nurses as keys to success. Our mentorship program for nursing students will guide them in selecting the field of nursing they are most suited to. We are a seasoned team of nurses, ready to guide you in your practice goals.
Keys to Success
Our team is primed to address your organization’s quality and safety needs; your finance, operations, and leadership concerns; and your questions about recruitment and retention of nurses as keys to success.
Plus Years of Experience
Leadership
Our leadership team has spent many years leading nurses in several highly respected health-care organizations, including the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Westchester Medical Center. We bring our combined experience working for health systems that have been recognized year after year in US News and World Report as among the best in their medical specialties—a true reflection of their leadership. Our team’s nurses have been charting and achieving organizational goals for decades. With our proven track record as leaders in many organizations, we can show you how you too can claim these positive results and outcomes. Our backgrounds, knowledge, and skills in building strong leadership teams make us confident that we can help you achieve the outcomes you and your team are looking for, including being a best-practice organization. If you are interested in learning how to navigate the nursing environment during the current crisis, click on the links below to learn about:
• Recruitment & Retention
• The “Fit” in Hiring
• Stopping the Bleed: A Guide to Nurse Turnover
• Rewards and Recognitions
• Blending Your Team: Bringing Agency Nurses Onboard
• Leadership Style and the Impact on the Organization