Dive Brief:
- Nurse managers directly and indirectly influence nurse and patient outcomes, according to a new study from Press Ganey.
- Understanding the relationship between nurse manager ratings and work environments most likely to affect outcomes are critical, the research showed.
- Such insights can provide a roadmap for quality improvement efforts and best practice implementation, the report concluded.
Dive Insight:
Because nurses are a large part of the healthcare workforce and provide care to a large swath of patients, the importance of managing the workforce well needs to be on administrators' radars.
Researchers looked at 2016 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators RN survey data from more than 171,000 nurses, as well as Press Ganey patient experience survey data, and found that the quality of the work environment also influences nurse and patient outcomes.
Autonomy and professional development are the work environment factors that exert the most influence on nurse outcomes, according to Press Ganey, which added that autonomy, appropriate staffing and teamwork are the work environment factors that exert the most influence on patient outcomes.
The report calls to attention how work environments and its workforce influence each other to affect patient outcomes. The report is released against a backdrop where the healthcare industry is projected to hire an increasing amount of registered nurses as baby boomers age into the healthcare system. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 14.8% increase from 2016 to 2026 in the amount of registered nurses hired.
In addition, high-profile nursing strikes have cropped up over the past couple of years. This summer, Tufts Medical Center refused to let 1,200 nurses return to work following a 24-hour strike. A positive symbiotic relationship between the nursing workforce and its manager and environment could help mitigate events such as these.