Dive Brief:
- Registered nurses feel stressed out, unsupported by managers and overburdened on the job, according to a survey released July 1 by the Vickie Milazzo Institute in Houston.
- In all, 3,312 RNs responded to the survey conducted in May; 50% had 20-plus years of experience. Among top contributors to work-related stress they cited: long hours, lack of sleep and poor diet. Only 17% said they always get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
- Other stressors related to lack of workplace support: 75% felt they don't have the authority they want at work; and nine of 10 said they can't delegate work well because of inadequate staffing, apathetic bosses and coworkers and lack of teamwork. Only 16% felt fairly compensated.
Dive Insight:
Not only do patients suffer from burned out nurses, said the surveyor, a legal nurse consulting firm, hospitals also are affected because with implementation of the HCAHPS survey (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), patients now evaluate a hospital's care in a nationally standardized manner. And nurses are on the front-lines, in the primary position of influencing patients’ HCAHPS responses. Those responses have a direct bearing on hospital reimbursement.
As baby-boomer RNs retire, the surveyor said that hospitals trying to attract nurses ought to consider taking simple steps. These might include setting better work hours, providing access to more nutritious food, and giving experienced nurses more authority along with a seat at the management table.
A previous study of nurses, which examined dozens of surveys, was more blunt. It said nurse retention seems to boil down to this: get rid of mandatory overtime and floating nurses to other units and having them perform non-nursing tasks. And rid your hospital of bullying behavior and bad managers to create a better—and perhaps calmer—workplace.
