The current state of the economy has masked the nursing shortage. But, don’t overlook it as you make staffing plans for 2011 and beyond. Check out some of the stats in this infographic below, which was featured at Solving the Nurse Shortage Crisis.
I just read an article about an initiative in New Jersey led by the New Jersey Hospital Association’s Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation aimed at educating and supporting nurses so they can increase the amount of time they spend at with patients and in the process improving their job satisfaction. In turn this should help address the nursing shortage by stopping or at least slowing down the leaving of nurses from the profession.
The hope is that by giving nurses, particularly more experienced ones, a chance to stay connected to patient care they will stay passionate about caring for others and stay in the profession. The program is receiving a substantial funding of a $732,000 grant and will focus on three goals:
I must admit I had never thought about this connection before, that of nurse satisfaction improving the closer a nurse can get back to delivering patient care. This is very understandable. The extra duties that that get added to nurses’ jobs are most often not what motivated them to get into nursing in the first place. So why not address the burnout problem by letting them do what drew them to the profession in the first place.
What about your state or hospital for that matter? Are there any initiatives underway to help nurses get closer to the patient? What about on a more micro-level? What are you doing in your nursing units?
Over the next several weeks we are going to be bringing you a new series that tackles some of the common questions about temporary healthcare staffing.
On the schedule right now are the following questions:
When I was a kid I was promised by the media and entertainment industries two things, we would all wear the same clothes with metallic rings around the shoulders and we all would have robots helping us by the year 2000. I am still waiting on the uniform, but the robot thing may be getting closer.
In an aim to help alleviate their nursing shortage, researchers at Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research have created a teddy bear looking robot nurse that can help lift and move patients that weigh up to 135 lbs. The robot is called RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance) and is an upgrade from a previous model that could only lift 40lbs.
It has a soft skin and can recognize voices and faces. It will also follow spoken commands and is built to maneuver in tight spaces, like a hospital room.
I can see where this would be a big help in reducing the nursing shortage here in the United States if it lifted more than 135 lbs (which I imagine is in the works). People under 135 lbs is a very small percentage of American patients. But overall think of all the nurses who could stay in the field longer and the new ones that may enter it if were not for the physical strain nursing can place on a body. This means that nurses would be able to spend more time focusing on the clinical level of patient care.
I don’t know about how much one of these robots costs, but you would think there have to be some substantial cost savings that would come from this. Between retraining staff, lost time and Workman’s comp cost from injuries from lifting and the ability to need less nurses and nurses aids to move patients, the savings would seem to be there.
Over at Reality Rounds is a pretty funny response to the idea. What about you? Would you like to see this at your hospital?
I can’t believe fall is almost here and the school year has started. As you know that means that flu season is upon us. And this year we also have the threat of H1N1 looming.
I’ve recently seen some pretty scary numbers regarding how many people will be affected, and although I am sure it won’t be as bad as the worst case scenario 90,000 deaths recently projected by the CDC, it is still likely to have an impact on hospital’s staffing needs. Here are some facts from the CDC website that I thought were interesting in regards to nurse staffing:
• So far there have been 7,983 cases hospitalized cases nationwide
• There have been 522 reported deaths nationwide
• There has already been reported influenza activity in most states this year
• Two states are reporting widespread influenza activity, which is rare in August
• Up to 300,000 patients could require care in intensive care units (ICUs)
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has already issued a memo about the triage rules in case of an outbreak
• According to a recent survey of hospitals in nine states by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, 18% of hospitals with infected H1N1 patients reported having RNs infected as well
What about your hospital? What have you been doing to prepare?
I just wanted to quickly point you to a good post at The Leaders’ Lounge about strategies to help your maximize your staff during this tough economy. But really this is good advice all the time.
The author Bonnie Clair, MSN, RN lays out some simple steps like how to assess your talent, improve employee engagement, listen to your staff’s ideas and suggestions, build closer relationships with your customers, improve your department’s culture, build trust among your staff and retain your superstars. Give it a read.
What have you been doing to help your nursing staff perform better during this tough time? Anything else you would add?
Among the many attempts at easing the nursing shortage, there is one that is having a very positive affect. Hospitals all across the country are introducing a mentor program which is aimed at retaining the current or seasoned nurses while easing new hires into the workforce.
The mentor is paired with a new nurse or new hire and provides them with real world practice, advice and counseling. This is a great way to make new nurses feel welcome and at ease while building their confidence to handle the workload and at the same time giving some relief to the veterans and encouragement to stay longer. For both the overall goal is to give them enhanced job enrichment.
It is important that mentors understand that their role is to teach, coach, and share wisdom; to listen and advise; to help increase motivation and job satisfaction; and to provide clinical expertise.The expectations of the mentee, on the other hand, are to be genuinely committed to the opportunity, and to be open-minded and open to feedback, recognizing that they don’t have all the answers.
Your nurses are an investment and what better way to gain from that then by providing them with the opportunity to show you value them and the important work they do day in and day out.
For more information on mentor programs visit: Mastering Nurse Mentoring
There’s no surprise in the reality that the United States is in the middle of a nursing crisis. According to some statistics, currently there is an estimated shortage of 150,000 nurses in the U.S. alone. Over the next ten years or so, there will be a need for over 650,000 new nursing jobs, while at the same time 450,000 nurses will have left the profession. Most predict that the shortage will equal to a need of approximately 800,000 nurses!
There are however a number of nurses (Aprrox. 300,000+), most of whom fall under the “baby boomer” demographic that are no longer working and could help buffer the shortage. Many of the reasons for leaving are a result of the shortage. When hospitals make certain cutbacks it has a ripple effect that is felt from the top down. If hospitals can figure out a way to retain these nurses by offering different incentives such as, lighter workloads, bonuses and so forth. There may be a chance to keep “veteran” nurses around a lot longer to help teach and groom new nurses just entering the profession.
The nursing profession is still very appealing, it’s just there isn’t enough faculty or class space to accommodate the numbers. Some states are taking the initiative and offering grants for nursing-school expansions to help with the increasing numbers being turned away. These new initiatives are in their infancy and it is still debatable whether this will have a positive affect. Besides the issues with education, a bigger and more severe problem is contributing to the nursing shortage.
To compensate for certain staffing shortages, hospitals have made major budget cuts which in turn makes them make adjustments in patient care. Never is this good thing. Often times nurses are told to keep the amount of time with patients to a minimum, which leads to the obvious, poor patient care. There are nursing organizations trying to implement laws in which the ratio of nurse to patient are increased to ensure there are enough nurses to provide the quality care patients expect.
These are just a couple important factors to this ever growing nursing shortage and without governments and educational institutions taking action, things will only get worse.
As you face the day to day challenges of staffing your hospital facility, one area you may not always consider is the way it is affecting the mindset of your current nursing staff. A recent study by the American Nurses Association looked at this issue specifically and came to some disturbing, but probably not too surprising conclusions. You can read them all here, but the crux of the press release was:
73% of nurses don’t think the staffing on their unit or shift is sufficient.
59.8% of the nurses said they knew someone who left direct care nursing because of concerns about safe staffing
Of the 51.9% of the nurses that are considering leaving their current position, 46% say it is because of inadequate staffing
51.7% of nurses surveyed thought the quality of nursing care on their unit has declined over the last year
48.2% of the responding nurses would not feel confident having someone they care about receiving care in their own facility
These results illustrate how important it is to keep your nursing staff large enough to not only provide patient care, but also take the pressure off your current staff.
According to a recent story in the New York Times, low staffing levels in facilities combined with the nationwide nursing shortage increase the risk of an assault. The article also notes that nurses and other personal care workers suffer injuries from these attacks at a rate 12 times higher than the overall private sector.
Nurses and other personal care workers bear the brunt of such attacks, with 25 injuries annually resulting in days off from work for every 10,000 full-time workers at 12 times the rate of the overall private sector, according to the bureau. The most dangerous settings are psychiatric units and nursing homes, where patients are often confused, disoriented or suffering from mental ailments, as well as emergency rooms, where long waits for care can anger patients, and the people with them.
Low morale is another side effect of these attacks if the staff doesn’t feel management’s concern or support in these matters.
What can be done to protect your staff without hiring more security or adding an airport-like screening? Increasing staffing levels seems to be the surest way to reduce these attacks. Another benefit of increasing staffing levels is the positive effect it can have on your patient care.
Every facility must ask themselves if their staffing levels are putting their employees at risk, and if so is it cheaper to add staff or to settle a lawsuit that could result from an assault.
