...Quality Improvement Project By RM January 2016 Leadership and Management Executive Summary Nursing burnout is serious and in order to ensure that nurses are taken care of, the administration must implement incentives and policies that will provide nurses with the resources to maintain a healthy work life balance. Burnout accounts for many of the medication errors and patient injuries in healthcare facilities. Most nurses are overwhelmed because of the caseload and longer workdays necessary to complete charting. Many nurses are also disgruntled because of denied vacation requests that cannot be approved because of non-coverage. Research has shown that when employees are happy then there are less errors and injuries in the workplace. It’s ironic that nurses care for patients but they don’t feel as though the healthcare facility cares for them. Many things can be done to boost employee morale which in turn will increase the quality of care that the patients receive. Adequate coverage needs to be address and using temporary staffing is a way to fill chronic vacant positions so that float RN’s are available for PTO requests. Insurance credits and consumer discounts can be used as incentives for those employees that practice healthy living activities. Staff meetings held during work hours, discussion boxes, timeout rooms, and partnerships with massage clinics are all changes that can provide stress relief for nurses. These changes are not too costly for...
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...Nursing Burnout Bridget Solomon Grand Canyon University Spirituality in Health Care, HLT-310V Charles Self January 9, 2015 Nursing Burnout Sitting on my couch yesterday I was scrolling through my Facebook page, when I came across one of my girlfriend’s posts. It was an article written by an inner city emergency room (ER) nurse. The name of the article was, Madness: tales of an emergency room nurse and how I became a bitch. The article talked about the everyday work life of an emergency room nurse. I am an emergency room nurse and have never worked in any other department and this article hit close to home for me. The article talked about the emotional and physical abuse that only an ER nurse would understand. After reading the article it made me think about nurses combating compassion fatigue. Some people might ask, “ What is compassion fatigue?” In this paper I will talk about the cause of compassion fatigue, talk about warning signs, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of a caregiver, and last some coping techniques. Causes of Compassion Fatigue Compassionate fatigue refers to the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social exhaustion that overcomes individuals and leads to persistent decline in their desire, energy, and ability to care for other people (Bush, 2009). As nurses our role is to be the patient’s number one caregiver. Many studies show that nurses experience a high level of compassion fatigue. Not a day goes by during a nurse’s shift where we aren’t...
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...October 19, 2012 Nursing Statistics, Shortage, and Burnt Out According to The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), Nursing has been among the fastest growing occupational fields, and the demand for nurses is expected to continue as baby boomers retire, creating a need to replace retiring nurses and care for the aging population. Nurses are integral to our health care system; however, their profession is made more difficult by unsafe working conditions, causes of burnout, and being an underpaid profession. Ultimately, these difficulties not only affect nurses, but jeopardize safe and efficient patient care. According to the DPE 2012 fact sheet, there are an estimated 500,000 RNs in the U.S. who are not practicing their profession, in part because of difficult working conditions of nurses that are exacerbated by limited staffing and long working hours. Additionally, with managed care restructuring the health care industry in the 1990s, hospitals reduced staffing levels to lower costs. Nurses now care for more patients during a shift, which has led to a number of problems for both nurses and patients. Overworking results in injury: 39% percent of RN injuries resulting in missing work were attributed to overexertion. Many hospitals routinely require nurses to work unplanned or mandatory overtime and to “float” to departments outside their expertise. Over 60% percent of RNs report being forced to work voluntary overtime, which leads to Nurses’ cardiovascular...
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...Avoid Nursing Burnout Ashley A. Dean University of Louisiana at Lafayette STRESS REDUCTION 2 Stress Stress is our body’s reaction to a stimulus that triggers our primal “fight or flight” response. This response causes a hormonal dump of adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream that enables our bodies to react quickly to perceived danger. These hormones cause us to become more aware of our surroundings and able to make quick decisions and movements. This “acute-stress” reaction is a good thing but continued or chronic stress over long periods of time can cause detrimental effects to your body as the body never returns to homeostasis. Chronic high levels of cortisol and other corticoids can cause a decline of your immune system, making you more susceptible to illnesses. Additionally, they increase your body’s resistance to adrenaline that is also at higher levels under chronic stress (Bryant). If we do not reduce stress then there is a very great danger of becoming burned out. First described in the 1970s by the American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger as the consequences of severe stress and high ideals experienced by people working in “helping” professions (Informed Health Online. (2013). Burnout is a special kind of job related chronic stress that results in a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion where you derive little or no enjoyment in your career and begin to doubt your competence. The increased levels of stress and burnout among...
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...28, 2015 Nursing Burnout In today's modern society Caregivers, Medics, and Nursing Practitioners play major roles throughout their life daily to consistently care for patients, their job is to care for people/patients such as individuals, families and communities so they can obtain a good quality of life. Nurses take much pride in what they do for their patients to achieve a good and a healthy life. They put their patients before themselves, and they care for patients with much tender and love, physically and emotionally; they want to make a difference in people's lives, and always save lives. However, they don't realize sometimes what an impact this kind of a job can portray on their daily life that can lead to such mental and Physical exhaustions, also known as a Nursing Burnout. Being a nurse can sometimes be a very hard, and a depraving job, with a terrible job experience sometimes and stress, they physically feel imbalance in their lives, and this imprint leads to affecting them physically, mentally, and emotionally. A Nursing Burnout is a stressful disorder caused by the lack of social and practical support, imbalance in life, and a chaotic working experience with patients. How surprising is it that a nursing burnout is still not very clearly defined? Different causes, effects, and questions pop up in one’s mind of what a burnout really is. The lack of definition of a Nursing Burnout gives us many consequences because People clearly don’t know what a burnout is, how it...
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...Nurse Burnout and Its Impact on Patient Safety Georgetown University Foundations of Health Systems and Policy NURO-624 September 12, 2013 Nurse Burnout and Its Impact on Patient Safety Patient safety encompasses the application of best practices that are geared towards achieving positive outcomes and promoting safety, and can serve as an indicator of quality in healthcare institutions; sustainable nursing workloads improve the quality of health care by reducing unsafe conditions, as well as reducing mortality and morbidity. Several literature reviews have clearly identified the consequences for patients when nurses are overtaxed or over utilized to bridge the gap of nursing shortages. According to Mckee et al, each patient added to nurses’ workloads (beyond four patients) is associated with a seven percent increase in mortality following common surgical procedures (McKee, M. 1999). Recent health reform legislation has further stimulated increased awareness and focuses on patient centered care, and emphasizes on the importance of the patients’ experience. Moreover, patients’ expectations of their caregivers to be positively engaged in their work and performing efficiently and effectively in a supportive environment are prudent. However, several challenges are being encountered by nurses, as they strive to meet the mandates of the aforementioned health care reform. Challenges resulting from unfavorable working conditions that are not conducive to the provision of patient...
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...I S S U E S A N D IN N O V A T I O N S IN N U R S I N G E D U C A T I O N Nurse educators’ workplace empowerment, burnout, and job satisfaction: testing Kanter’s theory Teresa P. Sarmiento MScN RN College Nurse Educator, George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Heather K. Spence Laschinger Canada PhD RN Professor and Associate Director Nursing Research, School of Nursing, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Carroll Iwasiw EdD RN Professor and Director School of Nursing, School of Nursing, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Submitted for publication 22 May 2003 Accepted for publication 21 October 2003 Correspondence: Heather Spence Laschinger, School of Nursing, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1, Canada. E-mail: hkl@uwo.ca SARMIENTO T.P., LASCHINGER H.K.S. & IWASIW C. (2004) Journal of Advanced Nursing 46(2), 134–143 Nurse educators’ workplace empowerment, burnout, and job satisfaction: testing Kanter’s theory Background. Empowerment has become an increasingly important factor in determining college nurse educator burnout, work satisfaction and performance in current restructured college nursing programmes in Canada. Aim. This paper reports a study to test a theoretical model specifying relationships among structural empowerment, burnout and work satisfaction. Method. A descriptive correlational survey design was used to test the model in a sample of 89 Canadian full-time...
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...and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout, and Job Dissatisfaction Grand Canyon University: NRS-433V 06-04-2016 PROBLEM STATEMENT: The broad research problem leading to this study is the belief that nursing shortage in facilities leads to patient safety issues. The review of available literature on this topic shows strong evidence that lower nurse staffing levels in hospitals are associated with worse patient outcomes. Some of these outcomes include very high patient to nurse ratio, fatigue for nurses leading to costly medical mistakes, social environment, nursing staff attrition from the most affected facilities. The study specifically attempts to find a way to understand how nurse staffing levels has an impact on patient outcomes and nurse retention in hospital practice. Purpose d Research Questions: With one of the most critical steps being the determination of the problem that will be studied in the research process. (Nieswiadomy, 2008, p.45). Linda H. Aiken et al states the research question as 1. Determine the association between patient-to-nurse ratio and patient mortality 2. Determine the association between patient-to-nurse ratio and failure-to-rescue (deaths following complications) among surgical patients 3. Determine the association between patient-to-nurse ratio and nurse retention/attrition. 4. Determine the association between patient-to-nurse and the facts that contributed to the stress that lead to nurse burnout The research questions clearly...
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...Available online at www.sciencedirect.com International Journal of Nursing Studies 46 (2009) 1012–1024 www.elsevier.com/ijns Engagement at work: A review of the literature Michelle R. Simpson * Center on Age and Community, College of Nursing, Cunningham Hall, 1921 East Hartford Avenue, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413, United States Received 26 March 2008; received in revised form 20 May 2008; accepted 22 May 2008 Abstract Objectives: Engagement at work has emerged as a potentially important employee performance and organizational management topic, however, the definition and measurement of engagement at work, and more specifically, nurse engagement, is poorly understood. The objective of this paper is to examine the current state of knowledge about engagement at work through a review of the literature. This review highlights the four lines of engagement research and focuses on the determinants and consequences of engagement at work. Methodological issues, as identified in the current research, and recommendations for future nurse-based engagement research are provided. Design: A systematic review of the business, organizational psychology, and health sciences and health administration literature about engagement at work (1990–2007) was performed. Data sources: The electronic databases for Health Sciences and Health Administration (CINAHL, MEDLINE), Business (ABI INFORM), and Psychology (PsycINFO) were systematically searched. Review methods:...
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...with the patient long after discharge. Unfortunately, said care has become increasingly compromised due to nurse burnout. Higher turnover rates result in an increase of staff unfamiliar with their new environment. This knowledge deficiency can lead to delay of care as well as a decreased quality of care. It is important that the factors leading to, and, ultimately, resulting in, nurse burnout and turnover rates are understood so nurses are able to provide the best quality of care possible and create a long lasting positive impression on their patients. Background of Study The shortage of nursing has long had a negative impact on the workplace and its employees. Over the years, said shortage has become an increasing problem for post-industrialized countries. Researchers have developed many approaches to examine and determine contributing factors to this shortage. One approach, that of which is illustrated in this paper, focuses on the retention of nurses, and which factors promote a commitment to the workplace. Leiter & Maslach (2009) found that “dissatisfaction is predictive of both turnover intentions, which indicate that one is disengaging from the job and seriously considering other options, and actual turnover behavior which is the ultimate withdrawal from a job” (pg. 331). Gaining insight into what variables affect higher turnover and burnout rates allows for the implementations of appropriate interventions to decrease such incidences. Decreasing said rates...
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...that there will be a 20% shortage of nurses in hospitals in the United States (Punnakitikashem 1). Short staffing in nursing has been a recurring problem since 1998 (Buerhaus et al. 854). With a constantly growing population comes an increasing number of newborns and elders that demand care from nurses around the world (Punnakitikashem vi). This constant demand places a heightened stress upon nurses in hospitals. Because a shortage is present in the United States, nurses are faced with an excessive workload and the demand from patients cannot be met with complete satisfaction. Research shows this conflict leads to a decreased quality of care given to patients in hospitals. Also, it creates a higher chance of...
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...Leadership in Nursing Lisa Starnes University of Mount Olive Leadership in Nursing Leadership has many different types of theories associated with it. In the article, Authentic Leadership, Empowerment and Burnout: A Comparison in New Graduates and Experienced Nurses, Laschinger, Wong, and Grau (2013) “examine the effect of authentic leadership and structural empowerment on the emotional exhaustion and cynicism of new graduates and experienced acute-care nurses” (p. 541). Retaining nurses is critical, especially since the current workforce is reaching retirement age, in regards to the maintaining patient care standards. However, more nurses are reporting increased stress levels, dissatisfaction with the difficult working environments, as well as health concerns. In Canada, a government study identified that nurses absentee rates related to illness were 58% higher than any other labor force (Laschinger, Wong, & Grau, 2013, p. 541). Depression, as well as poor physical health are a few conditions resulting from the stress nurses experience from difficult working conditions. Nursing burnout affects more than just the nurse’s health, it also affects the quality of care the patient receives, which in turn links to increased mortality rates (Laschinger et al., 2013, p. 542). In addition, Laschinger et al. (2013) point out that with the current nursing shortage, healthy working environments must be implemented to retain experienced, as well as new graduate nurses from leaving...
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...Nursing is commonly viewed as the most selfless and compassionate job among all professionals. Majority of the nurses joined the workforce to help others. Considerate and kind nurses can, however, become a causality of a poor patient’s outcomes if not given the proper support and adequate staffing. Burnout due to heavy workload and understaffing remains one of the major problems in the nursing profession, nevertheless minimal effort is being allocated to solve the crisis. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the structure of self-scheduling, its benefits and disadvantages as well as its relevance in the Canadian nursing leadership practice. I will also provide background information of nursing burn out and the current solutions that...
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...Countering Compassion Fatigue: A Requisite Nursing Agenda Deborah A. Boyle, MSN, RN, AOCNS®, FAAN Abstract Nurses have a longstanding history of witnessing the tragedy experienced by patients and families; however, their own reactions to profound loss and premature death have not been systematically addressed. There is a paucity of research describing interventions to prevent or minimize the ramifications of repeated exposure to traumatic events in the clinical workplace. Compassion fatigue is a contemporary label affixed to the concept of personal vicarious exposure to trauma on a regular basis. Yet this phenomenon of compassion fatigue lacks clarity. In this article, the author begins by describing compassion fatigue and distinguishing compassion fatigue from burnout. Next she discusses risk factors for, and the assessment of compassion fatigue. The need to support nurses who witness tragedy and workplace interventions to confront compassion fatigue are described. Citation: Boyle, D., (Jan 31, 2011) "Countering Compassion Fatigue: A Requisite Nursing Agenda" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 16, No. 1, Manuscript 2. DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol16No01Man02 Key words: Compassion fatigue, nurse stress, work setting improvements, communication skills Nurses care for ill, wounded, traumatized, and vulnerable patients in their charge. This exposes them to considerable pain, trauma, and suffering on a routine basis (Coetzee & Klopper, 2010; Hooper, Craig, Janvrin, Wetzel...
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...Burnout has severe negative consequences on nurses. (Cimoitti et al., 2012). Therefore creating coping strategies and solutions to this problem is urgent and necessary through nursing management, organization and leadership at all levels, development of nurse practice environment, stress reduction interventions, lifestyle, emotional intelligence and self-awareness and problem focused and emotion focused coping strategies (Ndawula, 2016). Nursing management, organization, and leadership at all levels Good leadership and management have been shown to alleviate stress in the health care system (Wright, 2014). Nursing managers and organizations have the responsibility for reviewing the high requirements for nurses and providing resources...
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