Gordon I. Groh, MD, MBA, and Katie Owens join our Healthcare Experience Matters Podcast this week for a truly memorable discussion about making traveler nurses feel welcome and elevating the patient experience.  

With labor models predicting shortages in the healthcare field into the next decade, retaining all nurses — including traveler nurses — should be a top priority. 

Dr. Gordon Groh is an orthopaedic surgeon at Asheville Orthopedic Associates with Mission Health in Asheville, NC.  He is a nationally recognized expert in his field. His dedication to patient care and organizational culture is second to none with a deep commitment to patient satisfaction and top outcomes.  

Dr. Groh also serves as adjunct Professor in the Department of Orthopedics Surgery with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can learn more about Dr. Groh via his website. This is his first time joining our podcast. 

Katie Owens is a “frequent flier” here at our podcast. She has joined us for many important discussions about employee engagement, culture and leadership. She is President of the Healthcare Experience Foundation and Vice President with Professional Research Consultants (PRC).

Dr. Groh and Katie do an excellent job communicating the different opportunities for improved collaboration between physicians and traveler nurses in this broadcast.

“What’s going to separate really great health care organizations from ones who perform average is how they’re going to go deal with this issue over the next decade,” Dr. Groh said. 

The latest research notes that 35% of nurses left the profession during the pandemic.

“It is really incredible when you think about it and I don’t think most people understand that basically a third of the nurses left during the pandemic,” he said.

Dr. Groh argued that if this happened in a different industry, it might be an entirely different story. 

“If one third of the people that make us automobiles stopped making cars, it would be on the nightly news every night. People would be scrambling, trying to go figure out how they’re going to get a car,” he said.

“This happens in the health care industry. It has the same ramifications and people just sort of yawn about it or don’t report it at all,” he added.

Katie and Dr. Groh exchange ideas for how physicians, surgeons, and even other nurses can impact a patient’s experience by improving cultural integrations and engagement throughout this interview. With better employee engagement comes improved patient outcomes, better retention, and a superior environment for patients, providers, and staff to thrive. 

Dr. Groh went on to add that organizations need to understand that travelers have a different set of needs than the regular staff. 

“If you’re interested in turning those travelers into folks who want to stay, then you have to be very diligent about moving forward in a registered pathway to go make that go happen. It won’t happen by accident,” he said.

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Nursing, PRC