ANALYSIS OF A PERTINENT HEALTHCARE ISSUE

Description of the Healthcare Stressor

Increased workload leading to burnout has had a bad effect on healthcare organizations. When healthcare workers get burnt out from too much work, they feel less happy, more stressed, and sometimes even depressed. This makes them less effective at their jobs and lowers the quality of care they can give to patients. Working too much can also make them tired, unfocused, and prone to making mistakes, which could harm patients and make them less satisfied with the care they receive. White et al. (2020) said that burnout from too much work can make workers less productive, lead to more time off, and make more people leave their jobs.

Evidence from different studies shows that burnout from too much work is a big problem for healthcare organizations. For example, a study in the International Journal of Health Services found that mistakes made because of burnout cost about $17.1 billion every year in the United States alone. Another study in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that because of burnout, healthcare organizations are about 11% less productive and have about 10% more people taking time off from work. Also, a study in the American Journal of Nursing found that burnout makes about 25% more people leave their jobs.

Two articles looked at how burnout affects nurses and what can be done about it. Christianson et al. (2022) studied how burnout and compassion fatigue, which is when people feel really tired and emotionally drained because of stress, make nurses want to leave their jobs. They found that nurses who felt more burned out and emotionally drained were more likely to want to quit their jobs, no matter their race, gender, or how much experience they had. Olaleye, Christianson, and Hoot (2022) looked at how common burnout is among critical care nurses and what causes it. They also talked about how important it is for nurses to be resilient and how that helps with burnout. They think that giving nurses more support, better communication, and more resources could help reduce burnout. They say we need more research to understand burnout and resilience better.

Healthcare organizations are trying different things to deal with the problem of too much work and burnout among nurses. One way is to make sure there are enough nurses for each patient, which is called safe staffing. By having more nurses, hospitals can make sure nurses aren’t overworked and can give good care to everyone. Also, they’re working on keeping nurses by making work environments better, paying them more, and giving them more flexibility with their schedules. These efforts are helping nurses feel better supported and valued for their hard work. The happiness of the worker is very connected to how well they do their job (Jacobs et al., 2018). Also, organizations are using technology and tools to make some parts of the job easier, like using computers for patient records. Lastly, they’re giving nurses more training to keep them updated on new things in healthcare. By doing these things, healthcare organizations are trying to lower burnout among nurses and make sure patients get better care.

The strategies used to deal with nurse burnout, like giving more support from managers, helping with stress, and making a good work environment, can have good effects on an organization. They can make workers happier, reduce stress and burnout, and make patients get better care (Jun et al., 2021). Also, these strategies can make workers more productive and creative, reduce time off, and make the organization feel better overall. But if these strategies aren’t done right or don’t fit the organization’s needs, they could have bad effects. For example, if an organization doesn’t have enough resources to give flexible schedules or training, it might not help with burnout. And if an organization doesn’t give enough support or doesn’t listen to what workers need, it could make things worse.

References

Christianson, J., Johnson, N., Nelson, A., & Singh, M. (2022). Work-Related Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Nurse Intention to Leave the Profession During COVID-19. Nurse Leader. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2022.06.007

Jacobs, B., McGovern, J., Heinmiller, J., & Drenkard, K. (2018). Engaging employees in well-being: Moving from the triple aim to the quadruple aim. Nursing administration quarterly, 42(3), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000303

Jun, J., Ojemeni, M. M., Kalamani, R., Tong, J., & Crecelius, M. L. (2021). Relationship between nurse burnout, patient and organizational outcomes: Systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 119, 103933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.103933

Olaleye, T. T., Christianson, T. M., & Hoot, T. J. (2022). Nurse burnout and resiliency in critical care nurses: a scoping review. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 17, 100461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2022.100461

White, E. M., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., & McHugh, M. D. (2020). Nursing home work environment, care quality, registered nurse burnout and job dissatisfaction. Geriatric Nursing, 41(2), 158-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2019.08.007

EVIDENCE-BASED PROJECT, PART 1: IDENTIFYING RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

ANALYSIS OF A PERTINENT HEALTHCARE ISSUE

The Quadruple Aim provides broad categories of goals to pursue to maintain and improve healthcare. Within each goal are many issues that, if addressed successfully, may have a positive impact on outcomes. For example, healthcare leaders are being tasked to shift from an emphasis on disease management often provided in an acute care setting to health promotion and disease prevention delivered in primary care settings. Efforts in this area can have significant positive impacts by reducing the need for primary healthcare and by reducing the stress on the healthcare system.

Changes in the industry only serve to stress what has always been true; namely, that the healthcare field has always faced significant challenges, and that goals to improve healthcare will always involve multiple stakeholders. This should not seem surprising given the circumstances. Indeed, when a growing population needs care, there are factors involved such as the demands of providing that care and the rising costs associated with healthcare. Generally, it is not surprising that the field of healthcare is an industry facing multifaceted issues that evolve over time.

In this module’s Discussion, you reviewed some healthcare issues/stressors and selected one for further review. For this Assignment, you will consider in more detail the healthcare issue/stressor you selected. You will also review research that addresses the issue/stressor and write a white paper to your organization’s leadership that addresses the issue/stressor you selected.

To Prepare:

• Review the national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the Resources and reflect on the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for study.
• Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post for the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected.
• Identify and review two additional scholarly resources (not included in the Resources for this module) that focus on change strategies implemented by healthcare organizations to address your selected national healthcare issue/stressor.

The Assignment (2-3 Pages):

Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue

Develop a 2 to 3 page paper, written to your organization’s leadership team, addressing your selected national healthcare issue/stressor and how it is impacting your work setting. Be sure to address the following:

• Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization).
• Provide a brief summary of the two articles you reviewed from outside resources on the national healthcare issue/stressor. Explain how the healthcare issue/stressor is being addressed in other organizations.
• Summarize the strategies used to address the organizational impact of national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the scholarly resources you selected. Explain how they may impact your organization both positively and negatively. Be specific and provide examples.

Looking Ahead

The paper you develop in Module 1 will be revisited and revised in Module 2. Review the Assignment instructions for Module 2 to prepare for your revised paper.

BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 2

Submit your paper.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION