Every time a hospital loses a nurse, it costs an average $60,900 to replace them, which doesn’t even account for the mental and emotional toll training new nurses takes on the experienced ones or the cost of contract nurses to fill the gaps. Hospitals are expanding services and beds, which requires more nurses to take care of a growing population and an aging demographic who is living longer with more co-morbidities.

In partnership with the Well-Being Coaching Initiative, CNO Vi-Anne Antrum and CFO Andy Barrow at Cone Health, reported over $4 million in savings in retention in one year after investing in nurse well-being.

There are many strategies to improve nurse retention. The first one is prioritizing psychological and physical safety in the environment, from patients and families and fellow healthcare professionals.

Nurses need to feel empowered, valued, and supported in their personal and professional development. The inability to separate work from home is the number one cause of burnout, according to a 2025 Laudio study.

Nurses who are more engaged with opportunities to participate in personal and professional development are healthier and happier. Despite tough workloads, prevalent workplace violence, and record levels of burnout, nurses are more willing to stay when leaders invest in them and their well-being. 

When nurse engagement is high, they feel empowered to use their voice to get involved in initiatives, apply for promotions, and go back to school for certifications and advance degrees. The bottom line is, engaged nurses are not only happier, they are safer, function at a higher level, and create a better care experience for everyone.

Wellness and Well-Being are often used synonymously, and while they influence each other, they are different. Wellness is a set of behaviors, like working out and eating healthy, while Well-Being is a state of mind, how you feel about yourself.

Exercise and eating healthy can help you feel good about yourself, but we have found when you feel good about yourself, you are more likely to exercise and eat healthy.

Your Well-Being determines your Wellness because when you feel good about yourself, you make good decisions for yourself. These good decisions include putting yourself first with kindness, especially when you make a mistake (Compassion), slowing down, even when you think you are “too busy”, (Presence), and doing something that brings you joy, like drawing, even though you feel overwhelmed, (Recovery).

Your well-being is how you feel about yourself and what you do every day.  It is affected by your ability to practice Self-Leadership.

The foundational skill of the Well-Being Coaching Initiative is Self-Leadership, a skill Diane has been teaching and coaching nurses for 30 years. Going deeper than self-care, Self-Leadership is the relationship you have with yourself; how you prioritize, treat, and talk to yourself. Self-Leadership is so empowering because it teaches nurses how to prioritize themselves so they are more engaged and less stressed in their work and life.

The Well-Being Coaching Initiative is a unique system with a train the trainer model that delivers compounding results. We train internal Coaches to train future empower Nurse Champions and Coaches through Self-Leadership. This model has been proven to be very effective because it creates real ownership, continuity and credibility to create and sustain a real Culture of Well-Being, versus a one and done program. Participating as a Coach who coaches or a Champion, who shares the information informally reinforces each participant’s behavior and ability to continue to affect the nursing culture every day.What is the Well-Being Coaching Initiative?

The Well-Being Coaching Initiative Uniquely Provides:

• A Train the Trainer model licensed to use all content within the hospital(s)
• Live structured Individual and Group Coaching vs self-led information and resources
• A proactive and empowering approach vs reactive or disciplinary
• A focus on Self-Leadership vs Self-Care
• Proven Results published with high accountability and impact
• Long-term plan with ongoing support provided for culture change and impact vs a one and done program