National League for Nursing’s Statement on Commitment to Clinician Well-Being - Commitment Statement - Clinician Well-Being

Sep 20, 2026

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National League for Nursing (NLN) addresses clinician well-being and the pressures contributing to burnout and early attrition among new graduate nurses. The statement links turnover to losses in quality patient care and increased institutional costs, including major recruitment and orientation expenses. NLN ties its mission in nursing education to core values—caring, integrity, diversity and inclusion, and excellence—framing resilience as essential to a strong, diverse nursing workforce.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Clinician well-being and early nurse attrition

Burnout, turnover, and institutional impact

Recruitment, orientation, and care cost burden

NLN mission and resilience framework

Mission for strong, diverse nursing workforce

Interdependence of workforce strength and well-being

NLN core values for clinician well-being

Caring

Integrity

Diversity and Inclusion

Excellence

NLN partnerships and membership reach

Action Collaborative membership

Scale of schools and individual members

National League for Nursing’s Statement on Commitment to Clinician Well-Being The challenge to nurses in the clinical areas has frequently included an early form of “burn out” for the first year when 20-30% of new graduate nurses leave not only the hospital but the profession of nursing only to be followed by 40 percent in the second year. These numbers present a loss to the delivery of quality patient care and an additional burden of cost to the institution. The recruitment and orientation of each one is approximately $75,000. Those costs eventually find their way back to the cost of health care that every American shoulders. The factors range from a lack of respect and collaboration with their fellow workers who, for example, include physicians, pharmacists and other nurses to demanding intrapersonal/ethical issues of adjusting to managing life and death situations. The need for caring for the caregiver becomes clear and requires that schools of nursing find new ways to integrate these timely competencies into the school’s curriculum. At 124 years old, the National League for Nursing (NLN) is the oldest nursing organization in the United States. Our mission is promoting excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the health of the nation and the global community. Without a strong and diverse nursing workforce there is no clinician well-being. Without clinician well-being there cannot exist a strong and diverse nursing workforce. The fulfillment of our mission is intertwined with a commitment to clinician well-being and resilience. The NLN implements its mission guided by four dynamic and integrated core values that permeate the organization and are reflected in our work. (1) Caring: promoting health, healing and hope in response to the human condition. This caring while centered on the people for whom we provide care is available and essential for the caregiver. (2) Integrity: respecting the dignity and moral wholeness of every person without conditions or limitation. This Rogerian idea of unconditional regard can build bridges of collaboration between and among teams of caregivers providing strength and reassurance that the individual is not alone in this effort. (3) Diversity and Inclusion: affirming the uniqueness of and difference among persons, idea, values and ethnicities. Differences affect innovation so we must work to understand both ourselves and one another. And by acknowledging the legitimacy of us all, we move beyond tolerance to celebrating the richness that differences bring forth. (4) Excellence: co-creating and implementing transformative strategies with daring ingenuity. This is a culture of continuous growth, improvement, where transformation is embraced and the status quo and mediocrity are not tolerated. These values are key to clinician well-being. The NLN is committed and pleased to be a member of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. With 1200 schools of nursing and 40,000 individual members cutting across the spectrum of nursing education ranging from diploma to doctoral preparation, the NLN is committed to ensuring that caregivers of all professions and disciplines are supported in providing the highest quality care to advance the health of the nation and the global community.

FAQs

What problem does the statement highlight about early-career nurses?

It describes an early form of “burn out” during the first year, with many new graduate nurses leaving both hospitals and the profession, followed by continued attrition in the second year.

How does NLN connect clinician well-being to its mission?

NLN states that without a strong and diverse nursing workforce there is no clinician well-being, and without clinician well-being there cannot exist a strong and diverse nursing workforce.

Which NLN core values are presented as key to clinician well-being?

The statement identifies four integrated values: Caring, Integrity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Excellence.

Sep 20, 2026

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