Nursing assignment part 2

Add a section to the 2-3 page paper you submitted in Module 1. The new section should address the following in 1-2 pages:

· 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.

· Due to the nature of this assignment, your instructor may require more than  7 days to provide you with quality feedback.

2

Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue: Nurse Burnout and Workforce Shortages

Anthony Silva

Walden University

Professor Phyllis Lawrence DNP

NURS-6053 Interprof Org & Sys Leadership

September 7th 2025

Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue: Nurse Burnout and Workforce Shortages

To: Organizational Leadership Team

From: [Anthony Silva]

Date: [9/7/2025]

Subject: Addressing Nurse Burnout and Workforce Shortages

Some of the most pressing stressors affecting healthcare in the country are nurse burnout and workforce shortages, which jeopardize patient outcomes and organizational sustainability. Burnout, involving emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of professional accomplishment, has become even stronger since the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to hurt healthcare facilities. This issue is particularly evident in high-acuity units like intensive care unit, where lengthy shifts, high workload, and frequent overtime impose an immense psychological and physical burden on nurses. At the national level, these factors result in high turnover rates, low retention rates, and a decline in patient satisfaction, which, in turn, impact the performance of organizations and increase expenses (Amalberti et al., 2019).

In my organization, this problem presents itself in a number of quantifiable ways. Critical care unit nurse turnover has increased by almost 18% in the last two years, as compared to an average of 12 in the pre-pandemic period. The common reasons given in exit interviews are workload stress, absence of work-life balance, and inadequate recovery opportunities. The situation is further worsened by staff shortages, which increase the nurse-to-patient ratio, worsening patient safety and increasing the risk of adverse events. Additionally, the strain impacts morale, which leads to a cycle where disengagement of nurses contributes to attrition. Some of the interventions the leadership has tried to deploy to alleviate this include stress-management workshops, counseling services, and flexible scheduling options. Although these initiatives show a commitment to care about their staff welfare, the fact that the issue remains unchanged means that more systemic solutions are needed (Broome and Marshall, 2021).

To gain further insight into the strategies that work, I reviewed two recent scholarly papers on the topic of nurse burnout and workforce shortages. The first is a systematic review and meta-analysis study by Li et al. (2024), which analyzed 87 studies that included data across 32 countries. The authors discovered a consistent correlation between nurse burnout and higher rates of medication errors, hospital-acquired infections, and reduced patient satisfaction scores. The study noted the successful efforts to address burnout in organizations were based on structural changes and not temporary solutions. In particular, nurse-to-patient ratio reduction, increased staffing flexibility, and better supervisory support turned out to be more effective than independent wellness programs. This implies that the culture of an organization and allocation of work are essential to success in the long term.

The second article, by Rodríguez-Fernandez et al. (2024), was grounded on the implications of the Organizational Commitment Model in healthcare, specifically, within nursing. The authors emphasized that organizational commitment should be reinforced through proper role definition, open communication channels, and empowering nurses to make decisions regarding issues related to shifts and workload distribution. As opposed to other strategies that only consider individual coping strategies, these strategies consider systemic improvements that enable nurses to gain a sense of control over their work. The results showed that nurses who felt that their voices were heard and valued were less likely to experience burnout and more likely to be engaged and committed to their organizations.

The strategies covered in both articles are applicable to our organization, yet their potential effects are worth considering. On the positive side, structural changes, such as adjustment of staffing ratios and increased autonomy in scheduling, would likely assist in reducing burnout among nurses and enhancing retention. An improvement in nurse satisfaction could lead to better patient outcomes and organizational performance. For example, cutting down on the nurse-to-patient ratio in our ICU would lead to a direct decrease in medication errors and hospital-acquired infections.

However, these strategies have potential issues as well. Hiring additional employees to improve ratios would be a financial burden, particularly at a time when operational costs are on the rise. More autonomy in scheduling can also complicate staffing logistics, especially where personal preferences conflict with patient care. An evidence-based strategy with realistic resource management is, thus, of relevance. Piloting projects in one or two units and then applying to the whole organization can provide useful information regarding practicability and impacts.

References

Amalberti, R., Vincent, C., Nicklin, W., & Braithwaite, J. (2019). Coping with more people with more illness Part 1: The nature of the challenge and the implications for safety and quality. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 31(2), 154–158. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzy224

Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Li, L. Z., Yang, P., Singer, S. J., Pfeffer, J., Mathur, M. B., & Shanafelt, T. (2024). Nurse burnout and patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open, 7(11), e2443059. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.43059

Rodríguez-Fernández, M., Herrera, J., de Las Heras-Rosas, C., & Ciruela-Lorenzo, A. M. (2024). Practical implications of the organizational commitment model in healthcare: The case of nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 32(4), 6455398. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/6455398