evalutation

November 18, 2019

SECTION C: SOLUTION DESCRIPTION 1

Solution Description

Managing healthcare burnout is an imperative. Caregivers who feel a lack of compassion due to burnout can tend to make mistakes, provide sub-par care, or even quit jobs that they feel do not care about the health and well-being of the employee.

Proposed Solution

For the purposes of this paper, our focus is going to be on healthcare workers in the hospital setting. As previously stated, burnout is defined as “chronic stress associated with emotionally intense work demands for which resources are inadequate” as first defined by Freudenberger (West, et.al., 2018). Essentially, having too much work, that is emotionally tolling and not enough personnel to adequately, and safely, cover all of that work.

Hospital settings, particularly in intense areas such as the emergency department (ED) are notorious for being high stress places with not enough medical personnel to cover patient needs. This can be evidenced by long wait times to be seen while the minimal staff tries to triage those in most need of medical assistance versus those who are able to be held off for a bit longer. This does not take into account the added time that gets added to a patient’s care if they take a turn for the worse and more intensive care has to be administered.

It would feel like overstating the obvious to say the quickest and easiest way to prevent, or alleviate healthcare burnout would be to hire adequate staff. However, with the national nursing shortage that leaves a need for “11 million additional nurses” (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2019), this is not so easily accomplished. Further factors that complicate the issue is the aging workforce population, care-givers leaving the field for familial reasons, or a different career or the region in which a population resides (Haddad & Toney-Butler). A region that is more rural will have fewer available care-givers for employment than a more metropolitan area such as Houston, TX or Phoenix, AZ.

Since the mass hiring of qualified healthcare workers is not feasible, other preventions include “modifying the organizational structure and work processes; improving the fit between the organization and the individual through professional development programs; and individual-level actions to reduce stress…through effective coping and promotion of health behaviors” (Kumar, 2016). Including things such as mandatory breaks, a cap on patient load, providing therapists or counselors to privately speak with about the levels of stress being dealt with and providing a safe place to vent, and incorporating a healthy routine outside of the workplace such as engaging in exercise, yoga, or another physical activity to relieve pent up stresses. Oftentimes providing a quiet place in the work environment where the care-giver can step away from their responsibilities for 5 to 10 minutes can make a large difference during a particularly stressful shift.

Organization Culture

“The relationship between burnout and safety risk is of particular concern…[P]rovider burnout may contribute in part to real-world outcomes for patients, putting them at higher risk of an error or an adverse event” (Salyers, et.al., 2016). This should be an important concern for the healthcare organization whose primary directive is to provide quality care for all. This doesn’t stop with just the patients walking through a facility’s door, this should also include the people the facility employs to provide that care. Quality care cannot be provided when the healthcare worker is tired, stressed, over-worked, watching the clock for when they can leave the campus, or otherwise distracted and not paying attention.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes of preventing or alleviating healthcare burnout are healthier care-givers who provide quality care; who aren’t distracted or unconcerned with the level of care they provide, a distinct reduction in errors being made in the care and a higher employee retention. When employees feel they are valued as much as the customer, or in this case the patient, they serve they are less likely to leave for ‘greener pastures. “Employee retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the organization for the maximum period of time” (Singh et.al, 2010). This in turn can cut costs to a facility as high employee turnover results in greater hiring and training expenses.

Outcome Impact

The outcome of preventing healthcare burnout is better patient care, less liability for the facility and healthier, more engaged employees. This can lead to a more positive work and care environment which in turn can lead to more positive word of mouth advertising and increased revenue for a facility. Additionally, there is a better employee retention rate which can also lead to employee referring qualified candidates for hire, thus increasing the workforce capacity and leading to less stress for the caregiver with the addition of supplementary workforce.

References

Haddad, L. M., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2019, January 19). Nursing Shortage. Retrieved