Review of Current Healthcare Issues

Review of Current Healthcare Issues: Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressors you selected for analysis, and explain…

Current Healthcare Issues

Introduction

If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?

These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.

In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
• Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.

Nurse Burnout and How It May be addressed in a Healthcare Organization Setting

Solution

Registered nurses (RNs) constitute a critical component of the USA healthcare system.  With close to three million RNs working within the healthcare system, about two-thirds of them are employed within hospitals, and this shows the important role RNs play in providing quality healthcare to individuals living in the US (BLS, 2017 a).

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the nursing workforce would grow by 16% between 2010 and 2024, with statistics indicating the RN supply compared to the US population is low (BLS, 2017c).

The low supply leads to a state of emotional exhaustion described as burnout, with the nurse in context feeling overwhelmed by work to a level where fatigue makes them unable to face the demands of a nursing job and constructively engage with others.

Consequently, it is imperative to examine nurse burnout as a national healthcare stressor that negatively affects nurses’ work across different settings. To achieve the goals, the paper examines how nurse burnout may affect a nurse’s work setting and what is being done to resolve this national issue.

How Nurse burnout May Affect a Nurse’s Work Setting

Workload and nurse burnout is a complicated issue whose effects in a healthcare organization have far-reaching consequences. The negative effects emanating from nurse burnout include but are not limited to decreased quality of care and patient safety,

decreased patient satisfaction, increased risk of hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, and increased mortality, and generally poor patient and health outcomes. (Dall Ora et al., 2020).

As such clinical nurse researchers and scholars have devised evidence-based care to deliver patient-focused by formulating a pertinent clinical question, conduct a search of relevant literature for best evidence currently available, and followed by a critical appraisal before incorporating the evidence with the nurse’s clinical expertise.

How Nurse Burnout May be addressed in Hospital Setting

De Oliveira et al. (2019) note that competitiveness at work is a leading stressor in the work environment and recognizes burnout syndrome as a major psychological problem. Research studies indicate that hospitals adopt different approaches in their endeavor to resolve the issue of nurse burnout.

Some of the interventions are like implementing psychiatric programs (among them Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness programs) to decrease burnout and improve the mental health of these professionals. Other measures include communication skill training, compassionate fatigue combat programs, and implementing tools on nursing workload.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this discussion post has identified nurse burnout as a US national healthcare issue that needs to be addressed if the nationals envisaged by enacting the Affordable Care Act of 2010 are to be realized. 

Guided by the effects of nurse burnout on the patient, the individual nurse, and the organization itself, investing in preventive measures to reduce burnout is a worthwhile venture that would improve the quality of care and enhance patient safety.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] (2017a), “Registered Nurses,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-2017 Edition, US Department of Labor, Washington, DC

Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] (2017c), “Registered Nurses,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-2017 Edition, US Department of Labor, Washington, DC. 2017.

Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: a theoretical review. Human resources for health, 18, 1-17.

de Oliveira, S. M., de Alcantara Sousa, L. V., Gadelha, M. D. S. V., & 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. Sciences, 7.