Introduction
Greetings, today I would like to share with you evidence, ideas, and the potential plan for action that I devised against a critical issue in the United States healthcare system. The presented evidence-based project aims to provide the basis for unified recommendations on how to deal with high burnout rates in the ACH. Its goal is to alleviate the burden of nurses at the hospital, as the work environment presents numerous obstacles that prevent further increase in the quality of care. I believe that its successful implementation can improve their professional lives, as well as shed light on the most suitable anti-stress practices for other units.
Significance of the Problem
The existence of this issue decreases the possibility of alleviating many other critical problems in the US healthcare system. According to Thomas et al. (2019), the vast majority of the nursing workforce lists “acute and chronic stress as a contributing factor” for decreased productivity (p. 111). Nurses also note that this problem is not adequately addressed within many facilities, causing further decline in the quality and quantity of the nurse professionals (Thomas et al., 2019). It is essential to address this situation by searching for the best possible solution.
The PICO Question
The PICO question I constructed for this assignment is aimed to reflect the necessity of action in support of nursing personnel in hospitals. This population is one of the most extremely vulnerable to stress factors, as hostile hospital work environments impact the health of an entire population. There is a clear separation between methods implemented against stress, yet little to no literature that compares these approaches exists. Both methods look promising in terms of stress alleviation, and there are tools that allow comparison of their outcomes. I believe that addressing this topic could provide the ACH with the optimal strategy against the high burnout rates that are currently present within the facility.
Evidence Review
First of all, literature clearly outlines which factors must be prioritized through interventions such as the one that is planned. They reveal that many nurses experience emotional exhaustion, do not feel appreciated for their work, and are constantly forced to work overtime (Sultana et al., 2020; Thomas et al., 2019). Moreover, evidence regarding this topic presents numerous implications for the validity of both individual and communal anti-stress techniques. These methods succeed at decreasing stress among healthcare personnel, yet they do so via leveraging different factors (De Oliveira et al., 2019). This notion puts healthcare organizations at crossroads with no clear explanation of the exact outcomes when preferring one method over the other.
The overall picture may be clear, yet the specifics for each technique remain obscured by evidence that is not generalizable. For example, self-care techniques, such as meditation and higher autonomy, provide nurses with an emotional outlet and relieve some of their workloads at the cost of organizational disengagement (Montgomery et al., 2019). At the same time, group therapy sessions may take more effort to be organized appropriately while providing more long-term benefits through promoting cooperation (Aryankhesal et al., 2019). As can be seen, it is yet unclear which method would benefit the ACH more.
While the specific healthcare setting possesses a set of environmental factors, those that lead to high levels of stress vary from one facility to another. This fact creates a unique situation for each case of overworked nurses, which makes decision-making processes for anti-stress measures complex. Various training programs against stress, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), are able to affect several factors at once (Prudenzi et al., 2021). This multitude of choices presented to the ACH calls for on-field testing that can shed light on the most appropriate anti-stress technique.
Implementation Plan
To answer the proposed PICO question, a trial must be conducted on-site. Evidence from both peer-reviewed articles and on-site assessments must be presented to the human resources and finances departments, charge nurses, and unit personnel for approval. The context for this implementation is also clear: nurses of the ACH require such an intervention, as their self-reported stress levels exceed any expectations and have an apparent detrimental effect on the hospital’s overall performance. However, facilitation may be the project’s weakest point, as there are several barriers to implementation, including resistance to changes and lack of time among targeted personnel.
There is a definite need to establish a connection with the human resources department since it will be beneficial for them to work towards decreasing turnover rates. Assistance from the financial department is also necessary for securing the resources necessary for the trial. Such a plan would be impossible to consider without help from a mental health specialist. Throughout this period, an expert will be called for assistance, and appropriate resources will be handed out to nurses. Finally, the trial period would be filled with regular assessments and corrections.
The plan consists of thirteen steps that aim to guide the hospital to a satisfactory conclusion. After the project is approved by both hospital administration, charge nurses, and healthcare personnel, a 24-week trial in the form of group therapy sessions and self-care practices will begin. The decrease in stress factors and the shifts in the work environment should be noticeable at the end of the trial. The results will be collected at the end of the period, and their analysis will become the foundation for the final presentation. It is expected that it will be possible to design a permanent change of practice for the ACH.
Evaluation Plan
Starting from the pre-trial meetings, nurses will be provided with regular questionnaires that assess their stress levels. The Maslach Burnout Inventory will provide stress-related scores, while the Professional Quality of Life (ProQoL) questionnaire will show compassion exhaustion scores. To add the outsiders’ perception of changes, the Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality Questionnaire (PSNCQQ) will be distributed among patients on a regular basis. It will also be critical to ensure maximum participation among nursing personnel or at least the existence of valid reasons for absenteeism. The presence of absence of any progress must be noted and immediately addressed by the project leader and charge nurses.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the ACH may need to restructure schedules for its nursing unit, as their burnout rates require immediate attention. The proposed intervention provides such an opportunity while giving sufficient evidence for its validity. The outcomes of this project can imply possible optimizations for many other healthcare facilities. Hospital nursing personnel requires outlets that are both efficient and accessible, putting organizations in charge of their employees’ mental and physical health. The quality of care depends solely on the ability of nurses to work at their full capacity, but not at the cost of their health.
Recommendations
It is highly recommended for hospitals to incorporate at least two different anti-stress techniques into nurses’ schedules, as stress is an inevitable outcome of their professional occupation. Evidence-based approaches can help nursing personnel in other healthcare facilities with improving their workplaces. However, it is understandable that the consensus regarding the method selection is yet to be achieved, as studies rarely, if ever, consider comparisons between approaches. The current state of burnout studies reveals that there is a clear need for researchers to focus on efficiency, as the number of nurses under heavy stress continues to rise and hinder the provision of care.
References
Aryankhesal, A., Mohammadibakhsh, R., Hamidi, Y., Alidoost, S., Behzadifar, M., Sohrabi, R., & Farhadi, Z. (2019). Interventions on reducing burnout in physicians and nurses: A systematic review. Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran. Web.
Barrientos-Trigo, S., Vega-Vázquez, L., De Diego-Cordero, R., Badanta-Romero, B., & Porcel-Gálvez, A. M. (2018). Interventions to improve working conditions of nursing staff in acute care hospitals: Scoping review. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(2), 94-107. Web.
De Oliveira, S. M., De Alcantara Sousa, L. V., Vieira Gadelha, M. D., & Do Nascimento, V. B. (2019). Prevention actions of burnout syndrome in nurses: An integrating literature review. Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health, 15(1), 64-73. Web.
Gray, P., Senabe, S., Naicker, N., Kgalamono, S., Yassi, A., & Spiegel, J. M. (2019). Workplace-based organizational interventions promoting mental health and happiness among healthcare workers: A realist review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(22), 4396. Web.
Montgomery, A., Panagopoulou, E., Esmail, A., Richards, T., & Maslach, C. (2019). Burnout in healthcare: The case for organisational change. BMJ, l4774. Web.
Prudenzi, A., Graham, C. D., Clancy, F., Hill, D., O’Driscoll, R., Day, F., & O’Connor, D. B. (2021). Group-based acceptance and commitment therapy interventions for improving general distress and work-related distress in healthcare professionals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 295, 192-202. Web.
Sultana, A., Sharma, R., Hossain, M. M., Bhattacharya, S., & Purohit, N. (2020). Burnout among healthcare providers during COVID-19: Challenges and evidence-based interventions. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 05(04), 308-311. Web.
Thomas, C. M., Bantz, D. L., & McIntosh, C. E. (2019). Nurse faculty burnout and strategies to avoid it. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 14(2), 111-116. Web.