Building a Staffing Model That Retains Women's Care Nurses
VP of Recruitment — Women's/Children's/NICU/Pediatrics
I talk with L&D and NICU nurse leaders every single day. And the conversation almost always comes back to the same thing: staffing. When a Women's & Children's unit is chronically short-staffed, the costs compound — agency premiums, burnout-driven turnover, missed quality benchmarks, and the kind of morale slide that takes years to rebuild. The problem usually isn't a lack of nurses in the market. It's a broken recruitment process.
Most hospitals recruit for an L&D Director or NICU Manager once every few years. By the time the seat is empty, HR is starting from scratch — posting on job boards, sorting through applications that don't match, and waiting weeks for a candidate who might not understand the difference between a Level II and a Level IV unit. We talk with these nurses daily, so we already know who's ready, what they're looking for, and where they want to go.
The right leader understands their unit's staffing model inside and out — how ratios are set, what happens when call-offs spike, how to build a schedule that protects both patient safety and nurse well-being. They've navigated the tension between budget pressure and clinical standards, and they know how to advocate for the resources their team needs.
When we refer candidates to hospital clients, we look for leaders who can walk into a department, assess the current staffing model, and strengthen it. Not by throwing bodies at the problem — but by building systems that make the unit sustainable. That's the leader who turns a high-turnover unit into a place nurses want to stay. That's the leader worth waiting for.
Christine Eubank
VP of Recruitment — Women's/Children's/NICU/Pediatrics
Christine has spent over a decade recruiting Women's & Children's nurses and connecting them with hospital leadership. She talks with L&D and NICU professionals every day — understanding what they're looking for and matching them with the right opportunity.
Ready to Talk Strategy?
Whether you are hiring or exploring your next role, we should talk.
