...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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...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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...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 college nurse educators employed in Canadian...
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...Hospital Nurse Staffing 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...
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...Introduction The quality of care delivered by the nurse remains 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...
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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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...By the year 2020, it is predicted 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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...Literature Review One nursing issue that I am passionate about is the shortage of nurses. This has been a long standing problem, even in the days of Ms. Florence Nightingale, when she and her nurses "used limited resources to address unlimited wants for healthcare (Cherry & Jacob, 2014)". They did the best they could and were able to improve the soldiers' condition dramatically. Agreeably, the situation is far better today. This topic is of great importance because, a shortage of nurses means that the ratio of patient to nurse increases and this can result in nurses being overwhelmed. It also affects the every aspect of patients’ care and it increases the risk of negative patients’ outcomes. It makes nurses apprehensive when they are going to work and that is not a good way to feel on a regular basis. Some of the reasons listed as causes of shortage of nurses include lack of good role models and early professional socialization, unrealistic workload, an aging workforce, negative work environment, retention problem, and insufficient nursing faculty staff. I chose the first article "Becoming a nurse: a meta-study of early professional socialization and career choice in nursing," because it attempts to deal with the issue of nursing shortage by investigating what motivates young people to choose nursing as a career and early professional socialization (Price, 2009). It highlighted the need to have good mentors, peers and role models, especially as new nurses are transitioning into...
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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 health...
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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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...PROVIDING QUALITY CARE Nurse staffing, quality of nursing care and nurse job outcomes in intensive care units Sung-Hyun Cho, Kyung Ja June, Yun Mi Kim, Yong Ae Cho, Cheong Suk Yoo, Sung-Cheol Yun and Young Hee Sung Aim. To examine the relationship between nurse staffing and nurse-rated quality of nursing care and job outcomes. Background. Nurse staffing has been reported to influence patient and nurse outcomes. Design. A cross-sectional study with a survey conducted August–October 2007. Methods. The survey included 1365 nurses from 65 intensive care units in 22 hospitals in Korea. Staffing was measured using two indicators: the number of patients per nurse measured at the unit level and perception of staffing adequacy at the nurse level. Quality of care and job dissatisfaction were measured with a four-point scale and burnout measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to determine the relationships between staffing and quality of care and job outcomes. Results. The average patient-to-nurse ratio was 2Æ8 patients per nurse. A fifth of nurses perceived that there were enough nurses to provide quality care, one third were dissatisfied, half were highly burnt out and a quarter planned to leave in the next year. Nurses were more likely to rate quality of care as high when they cared for two or fewer patients (odds ratio, 3Æ26; 95% confidence interval, 1Æ14–9Æ31) or 2Æ0–2Æ5 patients (odds ratio, 2Æ44; 95% confidence interval, 1Æ32–4Æ52), compared...
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...University of Tennessee- College of Nursing The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critique the research study conducted by Hersch et al. (2016). This study is about stress in the nursing occupation. The independent variables, clearly stated in the title, are the web-based program (BREATHE) and stress, and the dependent variables are nurse burnout and patient care. The population tested were nurses. The researchers were analyzing the effects of a web-based program (BREATHE) designed to relieve stress in nurses. If web-based programs are effective, then these can be used as an intervention to decrease stress among nurses. Problem, Purpose, Hypotheses, Research Questions The problem of stress within the nursing occupation was clearly stated in the beginning of the background section. It is clear because they list all the stresses with nursing, and there have been several studies conducted over the past 25 years on this topic. They began the background section very broad by identifying that nursing stress is prevalent and that many studies have been done over the past several years, but they ended the section by narrowing down their specific focus to web-based program (BREATHE) helping to relieve nursing stress. This problem is significant because all nurses experience stress, and when nurses are stressed patient care can be compromised. Nurse burnout can be an unfortunate outcome of nursing stress. This web-based program offers the nurses an opportunity to relieve their stress...
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