...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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...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...
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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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...The theory of goal attainment is a middle range nursing theory that was developed by Dr. Imogene King in 1981. Theory of goal attainment describes personal relationships and incorporates the concepts of self, perception, growth and development, space, time, interaction, communication, transaction, role and coping (Caceres, 2015). King based her theory of goal attainment on her conceptual system that human interactions are influenced by internal and external factors. King’s theory of goal attainment has been and can be used in nursing practice, nursing administration, nursing research, nursing theory development, and nursing education (Schub, 2016). This paper will discuss the issue of nurse retention and nursing shortage issues within the...
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...IMPACT OF NURSE SHORTAGE ON HOSPITAL‐BASED PATIENT CARE AND NURSES 1 Literature Review Nursing shortage is acknowledged nationwide as a problem in the health care sector that has generated a body of research by various scholars. A review of the existing literature was done using EBSCO Host and Cochrane data bases with the goal of exploring the nature of nursing shortages in hospitals and other health care facilities. The search keywords include nursing shortage, stress, work environment, job satisfaction, economic crisis and hospitals, and quality of patient care. The body of literature reviewed indicated that nursing shortage impacts on the quality of patients’ care, as well as the nurses who feel the direct impact of these shortages. A major research gap in the body of literature was found to be the failure to examine the role of the poor economic conditions that all sectors are being faced with, including the health care sector, in exacerbating the nursing shortages since 2008, which is worsening by the day. Framework This review of literature on nursing shortage was done within the frame work of the general theory of nursing, which explains the purpose of nursing as that of assisting patients to achieve their highest possible level of physical, mental/emotional and spiritual well being. Simply put, the nursing theory is about facilitating healing. But the reality is that some nurses, in no small percentage, are working in conditions that do not lend credence to this nursing theory...
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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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...Nursing Education Program Funding Health Policy Capella University MBA 6275 May 24, 2015 Nursing Education Program Funding Health Policy Health Policy Topic & Problem There is a need to support education programs such as Title VIII funding in FYs 2015 and 2016 (AANP, 2015). It is vital that Congress preserve funding for nurse practitioners educational programs, traineeships, and Nurse Managed Clinics. Congress must reduce federal spending through the Division of Nursing in the Bureau of Health Professions of the Department of Health and Human Services. The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) are advocates for nurse practitioners and patients. The AANP’s legislative team identify critical issues related to licensure, access to care, patient safety, health care reform, and reimbursement. They represent NPs on national committees and in health organization. Thus, the AANP is fighting Congress for sufficient funding for Nurse Education Programs (2015). The writer will introduce a new policy to improve the nursing shortage. Literature Review According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2014), a shortage of nursing school faculty is restricting nursing program enrolments. Nursing schools identified faculty shortages for rejecting qualified applicants. In 2012-2013, U.S. nursing schools rejected almost 80, 000 qualified applicants from undergraduate and graduate nursing programs due to insufficient number of faculty (2014). In addition...
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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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...The Nursing Shortage The nursing shortage has been a highlight of discussion for years. With healthcare reform now happening, the nursing shortage has become more urgent. Baby boomers are retiring making the nursing work force dwindle even further. More patients have insurance and are seeking care. Healthcare facilities are struggling with regulatory agencies that are directly linked to reimbursement and are try to do more with less staff which is leading to burn out. To further compound the issue, nursing professors are retiring and there is a decrease in the number of nurses entering the education work force due to lack of pay, increased amount of stress, and the increase in responsibility (Duvall & Andrews, 2010). With fewer professors, colleges are unable to accept as many students into nursing programs. The nursing shortage is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken. There are a number of factors that are influencing the nursing shortage. First is the lack of nursing professors. With fewer professors, nursing programs cannot accept as many students, which contributes to lacking numbers. Second, many nurses are at or nearing retirement age. 55% of the workforce is over the age of 50. Third, is the demand for nursing is increasing as more patients are obtaining insurance and as the population ages. Fourth, is burnout. Nurses are working short staffed, causing increased stress levels, decreased job satisfaction, and a decrease in quality care. Finally, there is a high...
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...The Nursing Shortage The nursing shortage has been a highlight of discussion for years. With healthcare reform now happening, the nursing shortage has become more urgent. Baby boomers are retiring making the nursing work force dwindle even further. More patients have insurance and are seeking care. Healthcare facilities are struggling with regulatory agencies that are directly linked to reimbursement and are try to do more with less staff which is leading to burn out. To further compound the issue, nursing professors are retiring and there is a decrease in the number of nurses entering the education work force due to lack of pay, increased amount of stress, and the increase in responsibility (Duvall & Andrews, 2010). With fewer professors, colleges are unable to accept as many students into nursing programs. The nursing shortage is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken. There are a number of factors that are influencing the nursing shortage. First is the lack of nursing professors. With fewer professors, nursing programs cannot accept as many students, which contributes to lacking numbers. Second, many nurses are at or nearing retirement age. 55% of the workforce is over the age of 50. Third, is the demand for nursing is increasing as more patients are obtaining insurance and as the population ages. Fourth, is burnout. Nurses are working short staffed, causing increased stress levels, decreased job satisfaction, and a decrease in quality care. Finally, there is a high turnover...
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...Healthcare in the United States has risen to an insuperable cost; along with the rise, the nursing shortage has paralleled in height. One cannot deny a correlation between healthcare cost and the nursing shortage. One particular factor is job burnout which contributes to the shortage. There is a myriad of reasons increasing the cost of healthcare, people are living longer, patients stay is lengthier from disease complications, and litigation due to malpractice or negligent is a cost factor that result in poor patient safety outcomes. The overhead cost to maintain daily administrations of a hospital are enormous, and nursing is tipping the cost All roads lead to Rome, is an adage that can be transposed to say, all roads lead to nursing....
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... community and public health nursing is imperative to the health care system as it directly affects the entire organization. In most health care settings, nurses hold the majority of positions, and replacement of an licensed personnel can be costly, time consuming, and difficult due to staff shortages. These factors are leading to a decrease in job satisfaction, as they are a major cause of burnout rates within the health care profession. The focus of this study is to explore the career plans, satisfaction levels and professional concerns of registered nurses (RNs), specifically within the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region. Through the use of a interviewed survey, this study will explore what significant number of nurses will choose to seek employment outside of nursing, shift to part-time positions, further their education in the nursing field, retire, or alter their career plans is some way. It will also look at what sort of turnover should be expected among nursing staff, if there is a perceived shortage of professionals in their field, and whether they would recommend nursing as a career to others. Nursing is the nation’s largest healthcare profession, with more than 3.1 million RNs nationwide. Of all licensed RNs, 2.6 million or 84.8 percent are employed in nursing, leaving about 500,000 licensed nurses that do not work in the nursing field, but could potentially do so (AMN Healthcare, Inc. 2011). Recent studies have shown that “burnout” is one the major contributing...
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...Christine Chan ENGL101 Composition and Critical Thinking October 25,2015 HealthCare and Public Health Issues-Nursing Shortage Introduction When we are sick, we will go to the hospital. We want good quality of care but this is a challenge due to the shortage of nurses. Nursing shortage happens all over the world. The problem will get more severe. The population is continually growing, the demand for healthcare workforce increases. For example, while I was working in the operation room over the years, I witnessed an increasing volume of patients entering the hospital. Even though there is this demand, the administration department cut the staff number due to budget reasons. Nursing shortage affects the quality of patient care, increases healthcare staffs' stress, and affects staffs' job satisfaction. The quality of patient Care With advance medical treatment and good living environment, people live longer. In 2020 the demand of nurses is increasing but the supply of nurses is beginning to decrease. As baby boomers’ generation are starting to retire which will reduce the supply of nurses and there are not enough new nurses to fill the gap. With limited nurses, they may do the vital signs improperly, rush of judgment, or giving medication without fully check. A patient can develop an infection or bed sore with not having a nurse every two hours around to turn them. For serious result, patient will die due to not frequently round. A report by Ford stated that 18 mental illness...
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...Nursing Shortages and Solutions Seketha Silas Walden University Nurs 3001-6, Issues & Trends in Nursing September 8, 2013 This assignment is about the concerns of the nursing shortage locally, nationally and globally. It will address some of the reasons and solutions for the nursing shortages. The purpose of this paper is to understand the nursing shortages and discuss some implementations that may help to resolve the shortages. Although, the country is experiencing an economic recession, think about January 2014 when millions of Americans will be able to get health insurance. Nursing may be the answer to some of the key healthcare and employment problems the US is struggling with right now. Lindsey (2013) states “with the graying of America has come a shortage of healthcare professionals, especially nurses. From 2009 to 2011, 85 percent of Associate Degree Nursing programs turned away qualified applicants.” (para 1) Nursing programs at some schools are closed due to funding cuts. There is lack of faculty at schools to train nurses. The lack of faculty to train new nurses definitely can cause concern for nursing shortages. Applicants are being turned away. Nurse educators have to endure lower salaries along with unrealistic expectations about their academic roles. Some nursing faculty is expected to balance their academic roles along with advancing their expertise and managing clinical practice. The lower salaries are sometimes lower than their colleagues working in...
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