Evidence-based Practice (EBP)
Organizational Leadership Approach to Improve Retention of Nurses Related to Burnout
Sunday, November, 15, 2020
Organizational Leadership Approach to Improve Retention of Nurses Related to Burnout
About 40% percent of nurses working in hospitals experience burnout
Stress related to heavy workloads has been cited as a major contributor
Characterized by reduced energy, lack of motivation, frustration, emotional exhaustion and reduced work productivity.
Almost one out of 5 nurses leave her job within the first year of enrolment, and about 1 in 3 quit their job within their second year
Nurses working in health care settings experience a high levels of stress due to multiple reasons some including, dissatisfaction with the management team and superiors, negative working environments and long working hours (Gensimore, Maduro, Morgan, McGee & Zimbro, 2020). Over time, this stress leads to burnout which is characterized by reduction in energy levels, emotional exhaustion, reduced work productivity, increased frustration and lack of motivation. It has been estimated that about 40% of nurses who work in hospitals report feelings of burnout. Almost 1 out of 5 employed nurses leave her job within the first year of enrolment, and about 1 in 3 quit their job within their second year (Reith, 2018). A study conducted by Haddad, Annamaraju & Toney-Butler (2020), shows that the number one reason as to why nurses are leaving their jobs is because of heavy workloads. If this and other underlying issues causing burnout are not targeted and fixed, nurses will continue to quit their organization, creating even more shortage of nurses. Effective nurse leadership approaches have been proven to reduce burnout, thus ensuring retention of nurses (Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017).
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Interventions
Training nurse leaders to recognize burnout signs early
Hiring more nurses to lessen heavy workloads
Increasing nurses’ resilience through paid pre-shift activities like aromatherapy
Implementing wellness programs
Allowing nurses to control their work schedule
Hiring other staff to take of non-clinical issues
Creating a supportive culture
For this project, because the interventions are focused on leadership approaches, educating leaders as to why different approaches need to be taken to reduce burnout in nurses is paramount because only then, will they be ready to initiate change.
Ensuring that the nurse to patient ratio is adequate will reduce the workloads of the nurses available (Dall’Ora, Ball, Reinius & Griffiths, 2020).
Nurse leaders can put in place paid pre-shift activities that reduce stress and improve resilience like aromatherapy (Jones, 2019).
Training leaders to identify and promptly address burnout signs such as disengagement, relationship withdrawals, frustration and anger over minut issues, and increasing callout are easily identifiable, enabling leaders to take steps to rectify the situation before it gets serious (Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017).
Implementing wellness and support programs such as comfortable resting lounges and departmental counseling programs can reduce the stress nurses, thus reducing burnout(Jones, 2020).
Involving the nurses in scheduling and rotation can give them more control over their schedule, enhancing the work and life balance, which will reduce burnout leading to retention (Scammell (2016).
Reducing nurses’ non-clinical duties such as constantly answering the phone calls by the nursing station and grooming patients. This can be done by hiring other staff to take care of such non-clinical issues will lowers their workloads, enabling them to focus more on clinical tasks; hence, alleviating burnout and subsequently improving retention (Scammell (2016).
Nurse leaders need to ensure a positive organizational culture that supports nurses such as team work. This will reduce stress, thus burnout and ensure retention of nurses (Körner, Wirtz, Bengel & Göritz, 2015).
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Evidence-based literature
Evidence-based literature on nurse burnouts and retention
Effective leadership strategies resourceful in reducing burnout
The evidence-based literature provides suggestions that nursing leaders can apply in their organizations to reduce burnout and retain nurses. It was done by gathering information from studies done regarding effective leadership strategies helpful in reducing burnout. The search involves looking at possible search terms, keyword and phrases, and subject heading where applicable.
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Objectives
Suggesting leadership approaches to reduce nursing burnouts and improve retention
Seeking evidence-based solutions to help in reducing nursing burnout and improving nursing retention
Educating nursing leaders on the different approaches to reduce nursing burnout
One of the objectives of this project is developing effective leadership approaches to reduce nurses’ burnout and improve retention. To attain the desired changes, organizational leaders should be consulted on whether they support the proposed changes, and if not, educated on the pressing need to. Also, keeping in mind that the changes proposed must be specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and must have a time-bound. Lastly, other stakeholders such as nurses in the organization, other members of the management team and others affected by the project should be consulted. Another objective is seeking evidence-based solutions to help in reducing nursing burnout and improving nursing retention. Another objective is educating leaders as to why different approaches need to be taken to reduce burnout in nurses is paramount because only then, will they be ready to initiate change.
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Resources
Availability of monetary funds
Human resource availability
Leadership involvement
Support programs
Several resources will be vital for implementing the change project plan on how effective organizational leadership strategies can improve nurse retention related to burnout. The first resource is the availability of monetary funds in an organization. Funds play a significant role in the reduction of nurses' burnout and increasing nursing retention. For instance, the organization can allocate a fraction of funds to train leaders to recognize and address burnout early, hire more nurses, and create support programs. Secondly, human resource availability can be achieved by employing more nurses in an organization (Dall’Ora, Ball, Reinius & Griffiths, 2020). Nurse burnout is highly attributed to high nurse-to-patient ratios. Leadership involvement is another resource. Nurse leaders must acknowledge burnout as a systemic problem and promote a culture that fosters support for nurses such as team work, starting from the top down. Support programs will be another resource needed. Nursing is a very stressful field, and the organization can help nurses cope with any form of stress emanating from work-related activities through support programs such as counseling (Jones, 2019).
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Anticipated Measurable Outcomes
Nurse perceived reduction in burnout level
Increased staffing ratio
Reduced stress level
Improved nursing retention and job satisfaction
No intent to leave the job
Measurable outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness of suggested interventions such as nurse perceived reduction in burnout level, reduced stress while working, improved satisfaction and no intent to leave will be useful to reassess.
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Plans for Evaluating Interventions
Reassess perceived burnout feeling in nurses
Determine change in retention rates
Determine intention to leave organization
To evaluate these interventions, calls will be made to my organization to determine if the retention rate of nurses has actually improved. This step is important in order to determine if the interventions were effective. Communication will be made with nurse leaders and managers to determine if they actually utilized the evidence-based practice suggestions to reduce burnout. It would be appropriate to communicate with nurses to determine if their levels of burnout have decreased with leadership initiated interventions. Also, follow ups will be made with other members of the management team to determine if effective follow-ups were made with their leaders to see if they are actually implementing the EBP suggestions to reduce burnout in their nurses. Determining nurses’ intention to stay or leave will assert that burnout is still being felt or not.
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Conclusion
Nursing retention due to burnout is a major problem
There is need to use evidence-based leadership approaches to solve this problem.
Evidence supports effective leadership approaches to solve issue
The issue of trying to retain nurses related to burnout is a major issue warranting the use evidence-based leadership approaches to solve this problem. Evidence shows that effective leadership approaches can help can help to reduce nurses’ feeling of burnout, thus ensuring retention. If this issue is not taken care of, more nurses will quit the organization, creating even more issues; the organization will spend more money in hiring and training new nurses, who may also quit shortly and the patient population will be negatively affected. Though these interventions may not reduce burnout feeling and ensure retention for each and every nurses, due to differences in our beings, they can help retain some, which would be better than losing more.
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References
de Oliveira, S. M., de Alcantara Sousa, L. V., Vieira Gadelha, M., & do Nascimento, V. B. (2019). Prevention actions of burnout syndrome in nurses: An integrating literature review. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health : CP & EMH, 15, 64–73. https:// doi.org/10.2174/1745017901915010064
Dall'Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: A theoretical review. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00469-9
Gensimore, M. M., Maduro, R. S., Morgan, M. K., McGee, G. W., & Zimbro, K. S. (2020). The effect of nurse practice environment on retention and quality of care via burnout, work characteristics, and resilience: A moderated mediation model. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(10), 546-553. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32925666/
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing shortage. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Jones B. (2019). Fifteen minutes may decrease nursing burnout: A discussion paper. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 7(1), 121–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2019.11.004
References Continued
Körner, M., Wirtz, M. A., Bengel, J., & Göritz, A. S. (2015). Relationship of organizational culture, teamwork and job satisfaction in interprofessional teams. BMC Health Services Research, 15, 243. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-0888-y
Mudallal, R. H., Othman, W. M., & Al Hassan, N. F. (2017). Nurses' Burnout: The Influence of Leader Empowering Behaviors, Work Conditions, and Demographic Traits. Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing, 54, 46958017724944. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958017724944
Reith T. P. (2018). Burnout in United States healthcare professionals: A narrative review. Cureus, 10(12), e3681. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3681
Scammell, J. (2016). Should I stay or should I go? Stress, burnout and nurse retention. British Journal of Nursing, 25(17), 990-990. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2016.25.17.990