Excessive Workload in Healthcare: Issues and Solutions

This report discusses the issues related to excessive workload in healthcare, including physical draining and non-traditional schedule. It also provides solutions to resolve the problem in an efficient manner.

For Higher
Education

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................................3
Physically draining..................................................................................................................................4
Non-traditional schedule..........................................................................................................................4
Solution 1................................................................................................................................................5
Solution 2................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Excessive workload refers when an individual faces too much workload. Here, the
individuals have huge workload on their own. Increasing workload can cause huge stress to the
employees. It becomes problem where employees face lack of support & assistance. In the
present period of time, excessive workload has become a major issues that directly affect the
potential of workforce within the organization. In context of health and social care system,
people face stress due to high workload. Nowadays, the workload on the health & social care
workers is increasing due to the increasing number of patients significantly. In current period
time, the COVID-19 has been created huge burden on the healthcare workers (Kazdin, 2017).
They need to work extra hours to provide better care to the patients. This excessive workload is
becoming the reason of burnout as well as stress at the workplace.
In context of the present report, there is discussion regarding the workload issue in
healthcare setting. The increasing workload is causing huge stress to the workforce of healthcare
organizations. With increasing number of serious diseases, the workload of the healthcare
workers is increasing significantly. Here, the increasing stress and other such issues will directly
affect the work potential of the individuals in the healthcare setting. The report is based on issues
that are being faced by the employees of health & social care due to increasing workloads. Along
with this, the study will also cover necessary solutions to resolve the problem in an efficient
manner.
Main Body
Working in health care setting is not easy as the healthcare workers have to face different
kinds of situations on regular basis. Now, the sector is full with excessive workload due to the
increasing number of patients throughout the world. In this context, the problems of working in
healthcare setting are mentioned below:

Physically draining
It is analyzed that healthcare workers have to work more than an average time. They are
required to handle different types of cases. Sometimes, they also have to face emergencies like
accidents and more. Working more than 12 hours a day can cause huge stress. During the day,
healthcare workers have to come across with different kinds of situations. Additionally, they are
likely to spend the whole day inside a room with serious patients. This might cause stress and
further affect the working of healthcare workers. It also affects the level of energy of workers in
adverse manner. However, it is one of the effective field to serve different individuals. It also
provides inner satisfaction as one is helping others. But, every person has a particular level of
energy which damages while they work for extra hours. It also affect the physical and mental
well-being of healthcare workers. While taking care of patients, they are not able to take care of
themselves. As a result, they get affected physically as well mentally (Nelson and Wilson, 2018).
Apart from this, working more than 12 hours a day also affects the work life balance of health
care workers. They are not able to maintain a proper balance between personal & professional
life. This physical draining put a major impact on the health conditions of workers and also
affect their potential to provide better services to the patients (A narrative review of trends,
causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions, 2017).
Non-traditional schedule
The other major problem that is being faced by the healthcare professionals is non-
traditional schedule. Whether in good and bad health conditions, they need to perform their
duties. Sickness and disease never affect the professional duties of health & social care workers.
If they fall ill, still, they need to attend the emergency cases at hospitals. In terms of personal &
professional life, there is no balance in the respective profession. While enjoying holiday with
family, they might need to rush to the hospital on getting an emergency call. They cannot
maintain a traditional schedule like other individuals which lead towards great issues in terms of
work life balance. In context of other professionals like marketing, finance, management and
more, they have a particular work time (Van den Bosch and Bird, 2018). They follow a
traditional schedule where they have time for both personal as well as professional work. On
other side, health care professionals cannot follow a particular schedule. Rather, they need to
maintain flexibility as per the circumstances. On getting the emergency call, they are required to
present their. It is analyzed that long working hours increase the risk of reducing the

performance, obesity, injuries and more. Therefore, lack of schedule profoundly affects the
potential and capabilities of healthcare workers to offer effective care to the patients (Negative
Impacts of Shiftwork and Long Work Hours, 2015).
Solution 1
To deal with the issues related to physical draining, there is requirement to work for a
particular hour. Rather working for the entire day, health care workers need to work in shifts.
They need to work in a particular shift as per their feasibility. To deal with job burnouts, it is
imperative to discuss the concerns with supervisors. Here, it is possible to work together to so
that the issue of burnout can be resolved easily. In addition to this, there is requirement to set
realistic goals with an aim to minimize the stress profoundly. It is monitored that close
relationships with friends and other people also make the individuals enable to share the
expectations and feelings with others. Here, collobortion with loved ones like co-workers, love
ones, friends might prove helpful in coping up with the stress related issues at workplace. In
addition to this, the healthcare workers need to take part in relaxing activities like exercise and
more (Campbell and et. al., 2017). For this purpose, they can take part in yoga, meditation and
more so that one feel less stressed. It is monitored that indulging in physical activities on regular
basis might prove helpful in dealing with the stress. It can also help in diverting the attention so
that one can easily concentrate on own duties (3Physical Activity and Physical Education:
Relationship to Growth, Development, and Health, 2022). Therefore, there are ample of ways
which can be used by the healthcare professional to deal with the issues related to physical
burnout and stress within the healthcare setting.
Solution 2
Without having proper schedule, it is quite complex to complete the healthcare related
duties. It creates disbalance in personal as well as professional life. To deal with such issue, the
healthcare and social care workers need to follow a proper schedule. While taking care of
patients, they need to follow their schedules. For this purpose, they are required to follow proper
diet chart to keep the energy level high. It will help them in treating the patients effectively. In
addition to this, they are required to take out time for family. Apart from following a proper
schedule, they are required to maintain proper communication with co-workers, friends and other
people (Pearce, 2018). This will help them in minimizing the stress level so that they can

maintain a proper balance in personal as well as professional life. Being a health worker, one has
the passion to serve the patients effortlessly. However, they need to keep remind themselves that
they are individuals hence they cannot be controlled each & every situation. Additionally, they
need to take proper sleep in order to stay energetic and calm while dealing with different
healthcare issues. They need to take out time to have healthy meals. Taking breaks during the
shifts, stretching in between, supportive colleagues might prove helpful in maintaining a proper
balance in personal as well as professional life (Support for public health workers and health
professionals, 2021).

Conclusion
From the above-mentioned information, it is monitored that increasing workload can cause
huge stress to the employees. It becomes problem where employees face lack of support &
assistance. In the present period of time, excessive workload has become a major issues that
directly affect the potential of workforce within the organization. The above-study is based on
the issue related to excessive workload that is being faced by the healthcare workers. Discussion
has been carried out regarding various issues in terms of physical draining and non-traditional
schedule. In terms of physical draining, the healthcare workers face issues of stress, burnout at
workplace that affect their work potential in significant manner. To deal with such issues, the
healthcare workers need to perform a lot exercises, take proper sleep, collaboration with co-
workers and love ones. This will help them in dealing with ample of health issues within the
healthcare setting.

References
Books and journals
Campbell and et. al., 2017. Contribution of Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services to
improving Aboriginal health: an evidence review. Australian Health
Review, 42(2), pp.218-226.
Kazdin, A.E., 2017. Addressing the treatment gap: A key challenge for extending evidence-based
psychosocial interventions. Behaviour research and therapy, 88, pp.7-18.
Nelson, S.E. and Wilson, K., 2018. Understanding barriers to health care access through cultural
safety and ethical space: Indigenous people's experiences in Prince George,
Canada. Social Science & Medicine, 218, pp.21-27.
Pearce, R., 2018. Understanding trans health: Discourse, power and possibility. Policy Press.
Van den Bosch, M. and Bird, W. eds., 2018. Oxford textbook of nature and public health: The
role of nature in improving the health of a population. Oxford University Press.
Online
Negative Impacts of Shiftwork and Long Work Hours. [Online]. Available through :<
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4629843//>
Support for public health workers and health professionals, 2021. [Online]. Available through :<
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/healthcare-workers-first-responders/
index.html/>
3Physical Activity and Physical Education: Relationship to Growth, Development, and Health,
2022 . [Online]. Available through :< https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201497/>
A narrative review of trends, causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions,
2017. [Online] Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29243348/