Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Competing needs arise within any organization as employees seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet company goals. As a leader, successful management of these goals requires establishing priorities and allocating resources accordingly.

Within a healthcare setting, the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients are often in conflict. Mandatory overtime, implementation of staffing ratios, use of unlicensed assisting personnel, and employer reductions of education benefits are examples of practices that might lead to conflicting needs in practice.

Leaders can contribute to both the problem and the solution through policies, action, and inaction. In this Assignment, you will further develop the white paper you began work on in Module 1 by addressing competing needs within your organization.

To Prepare:

Review the national healthcare issue/stressor you examined in your Assignment for Module 1, and review the analysis of the healthcare issue/stressor you selected.
Identify and review two evidence-based scholarly resources that focus on proposed policies/practices to apply to your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post regarding competing needs.
The Assignment (4-5 pages):

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Add a section to the paper you submitted in Module 1. The new section should address the following:

Identify and describe at least two competing needs impacting your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Describe a relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Critique the policy for ethical considerations, and explain the policy’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
Recommend one or more policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients, while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies. Be specific and provide examples.
Cite evidence that informs the healthcare issue/stressor and/or the policies, and provide two scholarly resources in support of your policy or practice recommendations.

FIND BELOW IS WHAT I DISCUSS ON MODULE ONE
Burnout among Health Care Workers

Burnout is progressively being acknowledged globally as a key concern, upsetting the physical and psychological well-being of health care workers. Burnout is well-defined as a state of physical, emotional, and psychological fatigue that results from lasting participation in emotionally challenging work circumstances (Portoghese et al., 2014). It is a multidimensional condition encompassing emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and a condensed sense of individual achievement. Confronted by growing pressures to produce enhanced results at lesser prices, the U.S. health care structure is making huge changes in how it provides care. The modification is worthy for patients, but quietly, health employees are burning out at frightening rates (Reith, 2018). This paper will therefore examine the impact of burnout among health care workers and the recommendations for curbing the issue.

Burnout is noteworthy public health since it upsets the functioning of all the health organizations. It affects the quality of care, leads to high turnover, decreases productivity, destroys people’s individual lives, and escalates the threat of suicide (Khasne et al., 2020). The high tolls influence patient health and there are links between burnout and the danger of medical inaccuracies and healthcare-associated contaminations, as well as patient access, with burnout is tied to greater turnover and higher chances of leaving medicine overall. This is the impact that burnout can have on a work setting.

To respond to the burnout crisis, the health system work setting has prioritized providing social support to employees. The organization sponsors a group of employees to gather for dinner monthly, where people just talk and bond. This social interaction helps build a team mindset that makes it harder for burnout to take place. In the end, this results in a team that is more engaged in its work, translating to better patient satisfaction and a decrease in burnout-related turnover. Besides, the organization has engaged operational leaders who can identify early symptoms of provider distress and expand opportunities for early intervention. For instance, when a clinician is seen to disproportionately spend more time in the electronic records system than with patients, it is automatically identified as a sign of problems. This is where the operational leaders come in and address the problem by finding the roots of burnout in the particular worker and go-ahead to offer a solution to such. These measures have been effective in reducing the causes of burnout in the organization.

References

Khasne, R. W., Dhakulkar, B. S., Mahajan, H. C., & Kulkarni, A. P. (2020). Burnout among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in India: Results of a

questionnaire-based survey. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine, 24(8), 664–671.https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-10071-23518

Portoghese,I., Galletta, M., Coppola, R. S., Finco, G., & Campagna, M. (2014). Burnout and workload among health care workers: The moderating role of job

control. Safety and Health at Work, 5(3), 152-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2014.05.004

Reith T. P. (2018). Burnout in United States healthcare professionals: A narrative review. Cureus, 10(12), e3681. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3681

FIND BELOW IS MU COLLEAGUE RESPONSE
RESPONSE 1
HI Oluwakemisola,

I enjoyed reading your post and agree that burnout is a worldwide issue amongst healthcare workers especially in the nursing

field. I do believe that it is emotionally draining when your place of work is burning you out. As team leaders, you must be aware

of and responsive on how others perceive change and must provide then with strategies to support them (Broome & Marshall,

2021). Burnout is a huge problem in health care workers today especially with this pandemic and the team leaders need to find

ways to effectively handle this way of life. In my work setting, burnout is on top of the list and COVID-19 is not helping. In the

emergency department where I work, burnout is an understatement. It is a fact that burnout among health care workers is

associated with high turnover rates and absenteeism due to sickness, relative ineffectiveness in the workplace, as well as low job

satisfaction (Portoghese et al., 2014). This is true in the emergency department where I work. Most of us are tired due to a

shortage in staff and long hour days. Busy days have gotten busier and the pandemic made it significantly worse. My

managers have tried to add extra staff on to cover the shortage, from time to time they supply us with dinner to show their

appreciation and keep reminding us to just take our time and don’t rush because you will get burnt out. It is easier said than

done but most of us try our best. There is evidence that supports a high level of job satisfaction between employees and

managers when they team up and collaborate in decision-making that helps nurses with burnout (Barrios et al., 2012).
RESPONSE 2
Oluwakemisola,

I would agree that burnout in the healthcare setting is of high importance, more so probably now more than ever. Burnout can be described as both a physical ailment such as exhaustion or it can be seen in work through inefficiencies which could lead to patient safety concerns (Afriyie, 2020). A study by Constanze et. al., (2014) reported in their study that a third of nurses had emotional exhaustion so mental health and well-being is critical as well. Burnout has been monitored for my nurses over the past two years, so even prior to COVID. Our department has weekly overtime related to the workload or staffing issues. Since there is weekly overtime and since my department does not have direct patient care, staffs have always been provided with the option to volunteer to work overtime. The volunteering versus mandating has shown to give a higher response of those wanting to put in the overtime. More recently my department has informed staff that weekends surrounding a major holiday will not have staff working overtime in order to promote staff break, relaxation and offer the opportunity to refresh and support work-life balance. As the nursing supervisor I also assist with the workload, but more importantly I continue to present data to support the need for additional nurses in our department.

RESPONSE 3
Reply 2: To Oluwakemisola on Nursing Burnout

Thank you, Oluwakemisola, for your post. The nursing profession burnout has created many debates amongst nursing leaders on a national scale. Shahzad, Ahmed, and Akram (2019) state that nursing burnout comprises many reasons; employee performance lies in the nature of the job. They state that the nursing profession requires accuracy as small mistakes can have negative consequences on human life. The patient outcome depends on the level of care they receive from the nursing staff.

Despite the vulnerability of the profession and the efforts to improve nursing well-being, there is an increase in job stress and dissatisfaction, which leads to burnout on a global scale. They associate burnout with an imbalance in work schedule, heavy workloads, colleague behaviour, environmental factors, lack of patient support, lack of leadership support and family pressure to be job performance drivers. They found in their study that in Pakistan, nurses are mainly comprised of a younger age working for minimal wages. Thus dissatisfaction with salary growth was one factor that contributed to nursing burnout. Another cause was the lack of interest in joining the profession as the choice was not given to opt-out. As dominating male society, females are not encouraged to stay out and perform nightly jobs, mostly young and not Wed. Night shifts were undesirable as it increased the chances of harassment. Night shifts are also discouraging for women who have children as it negatively affects their young family.

They found that was linked to nursing burnout was the gender-based salary differences as males were considered to hold a higher-paid position than females. Work-family conflict also exists as societal inequality exists where women are expected to perform house duties and take care of the children. The authors state that the nursing profession requires high concentration, accuracy, empathy and alertness, which can be difficult for women who also have full family duties. Thus failure to gain support from their family can result in a negative effect on the work-family balance.

The authors also state that a positive work environment can result in fewer work-related injuries and burnout. Gaining family support, according to Shahzad et al. (2019), can help alleviate outside stressors, which can cause nursing dissatisfaction and burnout.

Carter and Hawkins (2019) state that to prevent nursing profession dissatisfaction and burnout, one must consider “…creating a culture of resilience”. First, positivity and satisfaction can be achieved by becoming aware of burnout symptoms, such as frustration, anger, fear, unprofessional behaviour, hopelessness, insomnia, exhaustion, headaches, and even gastrointestinal symptoms (p. 36). Recognizing early symptoms and internal and external factors by leaders can help employees cope with stress and decrease the likelihood of burnout.

They further state that recognizing the hierarchy of nursing needs such as self-actualization, building esteem, creating a sense of belonging, providing safe approaches, and physiologic needs can help prevent nursing burnout. The authors addressed each need to improve nursing satisfaction and creating a joyful environment. Incorporating strategies such as asking staff to share one thing that makes them grateful during safety huddles or asking them to share one positive comment about their colleague was one strategy that was implemented which allowed staff members to start their day on a positive note. Joy huddles are conducted daily within the organization on multiple units at different times to help staff reflect on positive energy and regroup as a team. Daily leadership rounds are conducted with team members applauding the care the is provided to patients and families by the nursing staff. They also state that emotional huddles facilitated by a chaplain or a psychologist from an employee assistance program can also help with job satisfaction as it provides support outside of the organization.

In the organization that I work at, the nurse educator provided us with a board where we can nominate a colleague for nursing excellence when they go above and beyond for another colleague to help them with their daily duties or provide exceptional care to patients and families. They receive a small gift such as a pen, a coffee shop gift card or a particular star eraser. Unfortunately, we cannot fix organizational constraints such as nursing shortage or heavy workloads, however supporting each other as a team helps alleviate placement dissatisfaction.

Question

What are your thoughts on creating a joyful work environment through self-actualization and verbal staff rewards?

RESPONSE 4
Oluwakemisola,

I can honestly say that wholeheartedly agree with your post and am thankful for your insightful position on the issue. Burnout has for a longtime and continues to be an issue in healthcare. Burnout spans across the entire healthcare field from nurses, to therapists, doctors, and technicians (Kim,et.al,2020). To understand how to combat and treat burnout one must truly know signs of burnout and what it means. The individual must be able to identify burnout inorder to prevent it. If the question was posed who is most vulnerable for burnout healthcare workers would definitely fit the bill (Kim,et.al,2020).

Most healthcare workers work jobs that consist of long hours and many physical and emotional stressors (Kim,et.al,2020). They work in an environment that requires constant critical thinking and skills that continue to develop. A few ways to prevent burnout would be to reduce workloads, take breaks, clear your mind, provide employees with emotional support (Kim,et.al,2020). I noted from an article that I came across that most focus on burnout is placed on reducing the work related stressors, but little attention is paid to the none work related stressors (Otto,et.al,2020). This should be further investigated and researched because it has shown that none work related stressors play a key role in burnout (Otto,et.al,2020).

Overall, if more attention is placed on this ongoing and longstanding issue then maybe it can be combated, education of those who work in the field so that they are knowledgeable is an idea from my standpoint. I love the organization’s idea for the monthly dinner that not only allows for a decompression of stress but overall it can boost morale within the organization. I also love how there are designated individuals to spot signs of burnout and address it. Thank you for sharing your post, I look forward to future posts from you.

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