A relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stressor.

Full Answer Section

1. • The Conflict: This creates a tension where the need to provide safe, high-quality care with adequate staffing directly conflicts with the need to manage costs and operate within limited resources. When staffing is inadequate, nurses are overworked, leading to burnout. Conversely, increasing staffing can strain budgets.
2. Productivity Demands vs. Work-Life Balance:
   • Productivity Demands: Hospitals are under increasing pressure to improve efficiency and productivity. This can translate into higher patient volumes, shorter patient stays, and increased documentation requirements for nurses.
   • Work-Life Balance Needs: Nurses, like all employees, need a reasonable work-life balance to maintain their well-being. Excessive workloads, long hours, and limited time off contribute to burnout.
   • The Conflict: The drive for increased productivity often comes at the expense of nurses' work-life balance. When nurses are constantly overworked and have little time for rest and recovery, they experience increased stress and burnout.

Relevant Policy or Practice in the Organization:

• Mandatory Overtime Policy:
  • Many hospitals have policies that allow or require mandatory overtime to address staffing shortages or unexpected surges in patient volume.
  • Influence on Burnout: This policy directly influences nurse burnout by increasing workload, reducing time off, and contributing to fatigue. While it may address short-term staffing needs, it exacerbates long-term burnout.
  • This policy also may lead to nurses calling off of work, which makes the staffing issues even worse.
  • The mandatory over time also leads to less job satisfaction.

Sample Answer

Let's imagine the selected healthcare issue/stressor is "Increased Burnout Among Nurses in a Hospital Setting."

Competing Needs Impacting Nurse Burnout:

1. Patient Safety vs. Staffing Levels:
   • Patient Safety Needs: Hospitals prioritize patient safety, requiring adequate staffing to ensure timely and effective care. This includes appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios to prevent errors and ensure patient monitoring.
   • Staffing Level Needs (Resource Constraints): Hospitals also face budgetary constraints and staffing shortages. Increasing staffing levels can significantly increase operational costs. There's often pressure to maintain a lean workforce to control expenses.