Awareness About the Prevalence of Staff Shortage

Choose two issues or challenges that the leaders of today's health care organizations face. Select from among the following topics: Staff Shortage (Physicians, Nurses, Allied Health Providers, Ancillary Services) Reorganization in Response to Merger or Consolidation of Services Layoffs as a Result of Declining Revenues Influx of Registry, Part-Time, and Temporary Contract Staff Poor Performance Outcomes Leading to a Reduction in Medicare Reimbursement Dollars Poor Job Satisfaction Rates Resulting in Turnover You are the manager of an ancillary service department at a large, 500+ bed hospital. Develop a proposal that is directed toward your staff, in which you address the following: 

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Overview of two issues:
The main purpose of this report is raise awareness about the prevalence of staff shortage
and poor job satisfaction rates in the organization. This document will provide everyone with the
challenges associated with the issue and impact of this on the organization. It will give
suggestions on methods to improve communication, collaboration and team work to address the
issue. The proposal for fostering inclusion and improved communication is likely to restore the
goal of quality care and get the recognition needed for quality care and excellence.
Staff shortage is a critical issue that has challenged leaders today as it has dramatically
affected the workflow and resulted in quality issues. This has become an issue in this
organization too as critical shortage of skilled staffs has affected the provision of timely and
quality care. Many incidence and reports has been found regarding the increase in adverse events
and patient dissatisfaction issues. All these have been mainly found because with low staffs
available, the workload of other members increases. This increases the likelihood of mistakes
and other care related inefficiencies that negatively influence individual performance and client
care (Jarrar et al., 2018). The organization has also witnessed an increased in staff turnover rate
because of dissatisfaction with the job. The main cause behind this is perceptions of heavy
workload, communication barriers, poor work environment and lack of appreciation. Research
evidence shows that The organization is currently facing the negative impact of staff
dissatisfaction issues too as turnover rate has disrupted daily hospital operation, staffing process,
hospital revenue and cost too (Dewanto & Wardhani, 2018). Zaheer et al. (2019) explains that
for health care settings which are already plagued by workplace shortage, turnover is a major
cause of concern as it has economic impact on the organization. The hiring and recruitment cost
for the company has increased and working to address these issues has become necessary.

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Impact of improved communication, collaboration, and teamwork can improve conditions
in the department:
On analysis of the cause behind each of the two issues, it has been found that difference
in expectation of staffs and expectation of health care managers is the main cause behind the
issue. For example, job dissatisfaction and high turnover is an indication that employees have
never taken the step to talk about the issue with their leaders and the leaders in turn never created
appropriate environment for active communication and collaboration. Hence, in view of this
finding, it is suggested that clinical leaders of this organization give more effort on fostering
collaboration and teamwork because interorganization communication strongly influence job
satisfactions at different level. Nurses are more likely to be satisfied in a close communication
network (Vermeir et al., 2017). Thus, when leaders will increase opportunities for
communication between staffs, nursing staffs will get the chance to better present their issues to
the leader and find constructive solutions to work dissatisfaction issue instead of deciding to quit.
In addition, by fostering team work, accountable between team members will increase and each
members will get the required support to accomplish a task instead of being frustrated by the
assigned task or workload. Hwang and Ahn (2015) also give the evidence that staffs work in
organization that fosters teamwork received assistance from their colleagues in complex
situation. This will ultimately have positive effect on quality care outcomes as communication
and collaboration will enhance patient safety. Thus, in view of this evidence, it has been
proposed that team leaders in the organization spend more time in staff and team meeting to
understand staff’s concern about patient care and working condition. They should coordinate
activities to manage conflicts.

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Techniques found to foster inclusion and improve communication and collaboration:
Two techniques are being proposed to smoothly foster team culture and improve
collaboration between staffs and leaders. Firstly, the leader must work to adapt the key principles
of team-based health care. This includes shared goals, clear roles, mutual trust and respect and
effective communication process. Hence, leaders must first engage in team meetings to
demonstrate shared ownership and understand concerns and collective interest of all. After this,
leader must lay down the expectation related to responsibility and accountabilities of all team
members. At this point, staffs can express their concerns related to task accomplishment and they
can get the necessary support needed. By this method of reciprocal communication and
collaboration process, team members can create strong norms of reciprocity and such team
respect each other’s talent and opinion. In addition, leader must introduce staffs to accessible
communication channels that they can use to get constructive solutions and improve
performance.
The second technique needed to foster staff inclusion in the workplace, it is
recommended that leaders at the organization introduce process for better compensation of
workers who do exemplary work. This will mean appreciating employees based on their work
and ability to deliver quality care in times of high workload too. This practice will give positive
perception to people and they will never be dissatisfied with their job. Their motivation for
quality care will be high and their intention to leave the job will diminish. Rewards can have
powerful impact on employee’s attitude towards their job and this will lead to continued
commitment with organization. This will eventually increase staff loyalty and decrease turnover
rates too (Mabaso & Dlamini, 2017). Thus, rewards and appreciation is one of the techniques to
develop positive work environment for health care staffs.

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References:
Babiker, A., El Husseini, M., Al Nemri, A., Al Frayh, A., Al Juryyan, N., Faki, M. O., ... & Al
Zamil, F. (2014). Health care professional development: Working as a team to improve
patient care. Sudanese journal of paediatrics, 14(2), 9.
Dewanto, A., & Wardhani, V. (2018). Nurse turnover and perceived causes and consequences: a
preliminary study at private hospitals in Indonesia. BMC nursing, 17(2), 52.
Hwang, J. I., & Ahn, J. (2015). Teamwork and clinical error reporting among nurses in Korean
hospitals. Asian nursing research, 9(1), 14-20.
Jarrar, M. T., Rahman, H. A., Minai, M. S., AbuMadini, M. S., & Larbi, M. (2018). The function
of patient‐centered care in mitigating the effect of nursing shortage on the outcomes of
care. The International journal of health planning and management, 33(2), e464-e473.
Mabaso, C. M., & Dlamini, B. I. (2017). Impact of compensation and benefits on job
satisfaction. Research Journal of Business Management, 11(2), 80-90.
Vermeir, P., Degroote, S., Vandijck, D., Mariman, A., Deveugele, M., Peleman, R., ... &
Vogelaers, D. (2017). Job satisfaction in relation to communication in health care among
nurses: A narrative review and practical recommendations. SAGE Open, 7(2),
2158244017711486.
Zaheer, S., Ginsburg, L., Wong, H. J., Thomson, K., Bain, L., & Wulffhart, Z. (2019). Turnover
intention of hospital staff in Ontario, Canada: exploring the role of frontline supervisors,
teamwork, and mindful organizing. Human resources for health, 17(1), 1-9.

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