assignment week 8

2

Nursing Turnover and Inadequate Staffing in Oncology Setting

Student's Name

Institution

Course

Instructor's Name

Date

Nursing Turnover and Inadequate Staffing in Oncology Setting

The oncological unit cares for critically ill patients who need constant care and attention. Therefore, the department needs sufficient nurse-patient ratios to ensure that the ailing individuals receive adequate holistic care suited to their individual needs. However, a high turnover rate is experienced amongst the nurses in the department, causing the few remaining nurses to contend with mandatory overtime (Carter & Bright, 2020). The situation leaves them dissatisfied and derails the smooth running of the organization, giving rise to the research question: Will oncology nurses who have reduced overtime have low turnover rates compared with nurses who have regular mandatory overtime over one year? A review of literature that explores this issue will provide significant insights and evidence that can be applied in the clinical setting to resolve this critical issue. Inadequate staffing is a crucial issue that needs an evidence-based solution that will help reduce the turnover rates of the professionals. The solution includes addressing the issue of mandatory overtime, which is a source of dissatisfaction among nurses.

Comparison of Research Questions

Several articles analyze the impact of reduced overtime on the turnover rates of nurses. They undertake investigative research to answer varying research questions surrounding the issue. Elshahat et al. (2019) investigate the question: What is the relationship between nurses' quality of work life and their turnover intentions. Similarly, Carter and Bright (2020) also scrutinize the relationship between mandatory time and turnover rates in patients. The authors analyze the research question: Is there a relationship between mandatory overtime, nursing fatigues, and patient safety? Al Sabei et al. (2020) also explore the issue of high turnover rates amongst nurses. The authors explore the research question: Is the nursing work environment related to turnover rates and quality of patient care? On the other hand, Hariyati and Nurdiana (2018) took an i-depth analysis of the strategies that can aid in reducing high turnover rates among nurses. The authors scrutinized the research question: Does create a positive work environment, effective leadership, professional development, and adequate staffing ratios help increase retention of nurses in a medical institution.

Park and Koi also explored the turnover rates of nurses in medical facilities. The authors explore the research question: What factors influence the rate of turnover of Korean acute care hospital nurses? Burmeister et al. (2019) also investigated to unearth content that answers the research question: What are the determinants of nurse absenteeism and the intent to leave? Shaffer (2020) also explored strategies that promote the retention of nurses through a study that aimed to answer the research question: What can employers do to increase the rate of nursing retention? Further, Zhou et al. (2021) studied the impact of internal and external stressors on nursing turnover. The investigative process aimed to answer the research question: What are the effects of nursing stressors on turnover?

A Comparison of Sample Populations

The studies that investigated issues concerning nursing turnover and mandatory overtime utilized different population samples. Elshahat et al. (2019) utilized a total of 148 nurses working in a government healthcare facility. On the other hand, Carter and Bright (2020) analyzed scholarly articles and journals that discussed the issues. On the other hand, the sample population utilized by Al Saibei et al. (2020) was 207 nurses working in a public medical facility. The study differs from Hariyati and Nurdiana (2018) study, which analyzed 8910 scholarly sources from different databases that discussed the issue. The selected sample size by Park and Ko (2020) was 96,156 nurses who were incorporated in a cohort study. Similarly, Burmeister et al. (2019) undertook a comprehensive study that incorporated nurses from seven different countries involved in the direct care of patients to determine their experiences with mandatory overtime and nurses' turnover rates. Consequently, Shaffer (2020) carried out secondary research using peer-reviewed sources, while the sample used by Zhou et al. (2021) was 654 nurses from different counties in China.

A Comparison of the Limitation of the Studies

The investigative studies conducted in the articles incorporated in the literature review had various limitations. The limiting factor in the survey by Elshahat et al. 2019) was a small sample size. On the other hand, the limiting factor noted in the investigative process undertaken by Carter and Bright (2020) was time constraints. The time dedicated to the study was limited, which impacted the amount of data compiled. The data collection process was the primary limitation in the study undertaken by Al Saibei et al. (2020) and Hariyati and Nurdiana (2018). The studies used close-ended questions, which restricted the responses of the participants. On the other hand, the limitation of the study by Park and Ko (2020) was the age of data. The authors analyzed content from many articles, some of which were old; hence, they may be outdated. The main limiting factor in the study by Burmeister et al. (2019) was the profile of the sample. The authors did not consider the diversity present in the population while selecting the participants. On the other hand, the primary constraining aspect in Zhou et al. (2021) study was the time factor.

Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Research

Analysis of the studies shows that mandatory overtime is a significant cause of dissatisfaction among nurses, resulting in high turnover rates. The cause of the discontentment with mandatory overtime is excessive exhaustion that causes that negatively impacts the health and wellbeing of the nurses. Further, it increases errors in the clinical settings and compromises the safety of patients. Therefore, it is recommended that further research should be undertaken to determine the strategies that can be used to motivate nurses to develop an inclination for mandatory overtime in situations where the practice is essential and the measures that can be instigated to reduce the need for mandatory overtime and increase the rates of retention of nurses.

References

Al Sabei, S. D., Labrague, L. J., Miner Ross, A., Karkada, S., Albashayreh, A., Al Masroori, F., & Al Hashmi, N. (2020). Nursing work environment, turnover intention, job burnout, and quality of care: the moderating role of job satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(1), 95-104. https://sigmapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jnu.12528

Burmeister, E. A., Kalisch, B. J., Xie, B., Doumit, M. A., Lee, E., Ferraresion, A., ... & Bragadóttir, H. (2019). Determinants of nurse absenteeism and intent to leave: An international study. Journal of nursing management, 27(1), 143-153. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/147841/jonm12659.pdf?sequence=2

Carter, T., & Bright, K. (2020). NURS 360: For a great deal of nurses they are subject to having to participate in mandatory overtime, are nurses that are required to participate in mandatory overtime, just as successful and functional in care for patients as nurses who are not required to participate in mandatory overtime?. https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=spring_showcase

Elshahat, E. M., Shazly, M. M., & Abd-Elazeem, H. (2019). Relationship between quality of work life and turnover intention among staff nurses. Egyptian Journal of Healthcare, 10(1), 178-193. https://ejhc.journals.ekb.eg/jufile?ar_sfile=56499

Hariyati, R. T. S., & Nurdiana, N. (2018). Retention Strategy to Minimize Nurse Turnover: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Nursing and Health Services (IJNHS), 1(2), 99-109. https://www.ijnhs.net/index.php/ijnhs/article/download/47/20

Park, B., & Ko, Y. (2020). Turnover rates and factors influencing turnover of Korean acute care hospital nurses: A retrospective study based on survival analysis. Asian Nursing Research, 14(5), 293-299. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1976131720300748

Shaffer, F. A. (2020). Nurse turnover: Understand it, reduce it. https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/an8-Turnover-728.pdf

Zhou, L., Kachie Tetgoum, A. D., Quansah, P. E., & Owusu‐Marfo, J. (2021). Assessing the effect of nursing stress factors on turnover intention among newly recruited nurses in hospitals in China. Nursing Open. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/nop2.969