VALDOSTA — South Georgia Medical Center needs more nurses and is looking for ways to keep the nurses once they are hired.

At a Hospital Authority of Valdosta-Lowndes County meeting Wednesday, Denida Cox, chief nursing officer, said the hospital had a reception planned Friday for the 2018 graduating class of nurses. The reception will feature on-site interviewing and each department manager will attend.

Authority Chairman Sam Allen asked Cox during the meeting if the hospital is considering offering nurses sign-on bonuses to be more competitive. 

Cox said it is looking into the matter and that competing hospitals are offering nurses bonuses.

She said SGMC wants to be careful giving new employees sign-on bonuses. Giving bonuses to new employees can make the current employees feel disgruntled, she said. The hospital also doesn’t want to give away a big lump sum of money and then lose the person.

“They will get upset if you bring people in on a bonus, and they’ve been here for 20 years and they’re not getting anything out of it,” Cox said. “I really don’t want to do that here.”

She said SGMC is working on a way for the hospital to be attractive to new nurses but fair to senior staff, too. The real goal is to keep nurses once they decide to work at SGMC.

“You’re really walking a tightrope when you start talking about bonuses,” Allen said.

The hospital’s pay rate is highly competitive, Cox said. But still, the average nurse only stays two years before leaving. She started working at SGMC about six months ago, and there has been a nurse shortage at the hospital since then.

She said the hospital needs to put together an attractive package for new nurses and something sustainable. She said methods are being reviewed.

“What I would like to do is retain the nurses that we hire, versus bringing in contract nurses who aren’t committed to the hospital,” Cox said.

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256