Developing a Shared Vision. Nurse Shortage and Poor Job Satisfaction Rates Resulting in Turnover

Developing A Shared Vision: Nurse Shortage and Poor Job Satisfaction Rates Resulting in Turnover
Your Name
University/College
Nurse Shortage and Poor Job Satisfaction Rates Resulting in Turnover
Developing a Shared Vision
The problem of nurse shortage resulted from poor job satisfaction rates. These two issues can be directly linked to a recent decline in the quality of healthcare services. Nonetheless, nurses play a crucial role in healthcare service delivery since they are the front line personnel who directly interact with patients and hence their role should be recognized as pivotal in the delivery of quality and effective patient care (Hayes et al., 2012). Still, nurse shortage is a serious problem as it adversely affects healthcare service delivery. These two problems have caused an unprecedented surge in demand for healthcare, low RN wages, and a stressful work environment. The acute shortage of nurses coupled with poor job satisfaction rates if unchecked, could drastically reduce the quality of patient care, increase hospital operating costs and cause a decline in service delivery efficiency and effectiveness (Bodenheimer & Pham, 2010). This report explores the negative impact of two issues, namely the nurse shortage and poor job satisfaction rates on healthcare quality and safety.
The Impact of Nurse Shortage and Layoffs on the Department
The acute shortage of nurses has created a stressful hospital working environment since the remaining few nurses have to struggle with trying to meet the overwhelming number of patients. This has caused a decline in the quality and quantity of patient care (Zhang, Tai, Pforsich & Lin, 2018). Besides, the shortage has exposed patients to high risks of errors as the few nurses’ are working under pressure to cope with the healthcare demand.
Secondly, the shortage has drastically lowered the morale of nurses. Job stress and dissatisfaction are prompting the remaining nurses to contemplate leaving the organization or quitting the nursing profession altogether (Janiszewski, 2013). Besides the stressful work environment, the available nurses have to content with long working hours. Overworking has further dampened the spirit of other hospital staff due to a spillover effect since some are compelled to bridge the nurse shortage gap even without the requisite training. The shortage has further increased the healthcare-related mortality rates since most patients in the ICU lack adequate nursing care and can be attributed to the recent increase in patient care errors, as has been witnessed (Andrews & Dziegielewski, 2015).
Communication, Collaboration, and Teamwork
The problems of nurse shortage and poor job satisfaction rates can be addressed through effective communication, collaboration, and teamwork. In particular, the nurse shortage problem can be addressed through interdisciplinary teamwork (Hayes et al., 2012). The available nurses should cooperate with other healthcare professionals and staff to aid in the delivery of basic patient care. Besides, effective communication will be of great significance since it will reduce the adverse effect of nurse shortage such as failures and preventable errors. Thus team collaboration and communication would play a...