Your shift starts off with one of your patients crashing, your new admission arriving, and the gentleman in room 204 falling and hurting himself. Immediately you feel the pressure of all you have to accomplish. You may be thinking, “How will I get this all charted in a timely manner and still handle my med pass on time?” The healthcare industry has recognized this plight and has made strides to help nurses more efficiently handle their daily tasks, including charting.
Nurses play a critical role in caring for patients and improving outcomes, but also ensuring hospitals maintain higher HCAHPS scores. While some staff changes are expected, a high turnover rate can be disruptive to the team and affect patient care and satisfaction. As a nurse leader, it can be frustrating to train and manage a nurse only to have him or her become unengaged, or worse, leave the job. So what can you do to change the trend?
Nurse leaders can help reduce turnover. But, first, let’s look at what leads to turnover.
Have you ever felt like you were living in a fog? Even with plenty of rest, you still felt physically and emotionally exhausted. Maybe you found yourself hitting the snooze button a few more times than usual, struggling to maintain focus throughout the day and perhaps even snapped at a coworker or two. Even though you love being a nurse, you might have felt overwhelmed and unenthused.
Although these experiences seem commonplace to any hardworking professional, they’re actually the telltale symptoms of a much larger issue. Burnout is a real (and frustrating) condition, and the additional stressors placed on those in the nursing industry put professionals like you at a higher risk for burnout than workers in other professions.
If you’re beginning to feel the onset of burnout, follow these five tips to a healthier, happier and more fulfilled you.
When patient needs and concerns are held in high regard, everyone in your facility benefits. But making the switch to a patient-centered culture isn’t always easy. Your team may oppose change and see these revisions as yet another task on their already long to-do lists.
Achieving buy-in is the foundation of supporting a culture of patient-centeredness within your hospital. As a nurse leader, it’s up to you to be a catalyst for culture change. By modeling appropriate behavior and guiding your staff as they adapt to new standards and expectations, you can help everyone successfully adopt this culture shift.
Here are some tips for creating more patient-centeredness in your workplace:
Remember your first day at your first nursing job? For at least two years you endured a grueling schedule of nursing school courses and early morning clinicals, survived graduation and passed your NCLEX with flying colors. By the time you obtained your first job offer, you were bursting with excitement and ready to jump head first into your new career. But, on the first day, you arrived a bundle of nerves. How could you make sure you consistently provided the best care and experience to your patients? Who would you turn to for guidance?
As a nurse leader, it’s likely been several years since your first day on the job. Through hard work and dedication, you achieved a leadership position. Although those early days of your career may now be nothing but a distant memory, it’s a current reality for several of your newer nursing team members.
To ensure patient satisfaction, and help your new staff members succeed, here are three tips for helping new nurses communicate better with patients:
