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Leah Curtin, RN, ScD, FAAN, a Cincinnati, Ohio researcher of nursing issues and the editor and publisher of "Curtin Calls: An Occasionally Irreverent Scan of Nursing and Health Care" has recently written an article on retaining older nurses (of which she is one, she proudly notes) for "Seminars in Nursing Management."

Older, baby-boom nurses have become invaluable to hospitals, Curtin said, not only for their importance as resources for younger nurses and their historical perspectives, but because there simply aren't enough nurses in the next generation of 30-somethings to take their place. There's hope that the generation now in their 20s-79 million, compared with 78.6 million baby-boomers-will eventually produce enough nurses to close the gap, she said. But in the meantime hospitals need their older nurses to say on a little longer.

"These women don't have to work," Curtin noted, "so we'd better treat them well."

According to her research, older nurses say they want:

Curtin put flexible scheduling at the top of her list of ways to keep older nurses around. "I mean really flexible," she said, "even bringing in someone for two hours at peak shift time."

Also, she said, nurses and hospitals need to deal with "the reality of fatigue." Even nurses in their 20s have a hard time pulling 18-hour overtime shifts, she said. "When you're 50, there's no chance that you're going to be safe working 18 hours."

Jill Furillo, RN, director of government relations for the California Nursing Association said her organization has helped successfully retain older nurses by negotiating contracts that designated some as "resource nurses." These nurses work as preceptors and are allowed to spend the time they need helping younger nurses, rather than having to squeeze the teaching time in among other duties.

Furillo also advocated lower nurse-patient ratios and good pension and retirement benefits as incentives to keep nurses working until they reach retirement age.

Barbara Mitchell, MSN, RN-C, executive director of Nursing 2000 in Indianapolis, said that along with offering flexible scheduling, hospitals can attract older nurses by offering them mobility within the hospital. "There's really something for everyone at every age in nursing," she said.

Eventually hospitals will have to look at salary adjustments, said Susan Shelander, RN, director of development and retention for Memorial Hermann Healthcare in Houston. The bonuses and bigger salaries to nurses coming in will have to be offset by compensating those who have been working a while, she said.

Little things such as bigger print on computer printouts and computer monitors that can be adjusted for bifocals are also important to older nurses, she said.

Finally, said Curtin, older nurses want to be respected for their opinions, professionalism, knowledge and experience. They want to know that their managers care about the job as much as they do. But she cautioned against managers allowing older nurses to become their "parents" or mentors. "If you are the manager, I don't care if you are 30 years younger," she said. "Don't cede your authority to a staff person simply because they're older."