Report: Challenges Faced by Healthcare Organizations

This report addresses the significant challenges faced by healthcare organizations, specifically focusing on an emergency department's issues with staff shortages and low job satisfaction, which lead to high turnover rates. The paper explores the impacts of these issues, including increased operational costs and difficulties in patient care. It emphasizes the importance of improved communication, collaboration, and teamwork as crucial strategies to mitigate these challenges. The report suggests implementing educational programs and creating opportunities for staff involvement to foster better communication and teamwork. The author recommends allocating sufficient resources for staffing to reduce the workload and improve satisfaction, ultimately lowering turnover rates and enhancing the overall quality of care provided by the emergency department. The report includes references to support the arguments and findings presented.

Running Head: CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS
Challenges in Healthcare Organizations
Name
Institution

CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS 2
Challenges in Healthcare Organizations
Introduction
The modern United States (US) healthcare system is faced with multiple problems, which
require critical solution before they affect the quality of care. In the future, these problems in the
healthcare sector are expected to place limitations on the excellence plus safety of health. Hence,
in addressing these challenges, there are many recommended, as well as executed strategies,
which have been launched in the US. However, it is important to stress that because of the nature
of matters affecting the healthcare, addressing these challenges in one environment can prove to
be complex and challenging. Communication and collaboration play a vital role in promoting
teamwork in a healthcare setting and address the current challenges facing the healthcare sector,
especially at the department level. In many instances, the lack of communication has been seen
to lower the quality and safety of care since it results in medical errors (Hunt, 2015).
The paper will seek to address some of the vital issues, which impact and challenge
leaders in a healthcare environment. This paper will further examine the effects of these issues
(poor job satisfaction that resulted in turnover rates and nurse shortages) on a department and
establish how enhancing communication and collaboration could advance the significance of the
emergency department.
Issues Faced by Our Organization
The two challenges that the emergency department face in then organization consists of
staff shortages and low poor job satisfaction resulting in turnover rates. Staff shortages have
exceedingly increased in the last few years. Thus, the delivery of nursing care for the patients is a

CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS 3
multifaceted issue that needs a well-coordinated strategy, which entails many key health experts.
Physicians and nurses comprising all the other health professionals are required to deliver
individualized healthcare services to patients. Nonetheless, the current shortage of nurses in the
department has affected the delivery of care to patients in the department and affects the quality
of care. Staff shortage is a major challenge to any organization and the healthcare is not an
exemption. In the emergency department where I work, we are experiencing this problem plus
there is the need to comprehend why and collectively be accountable for working with the
current problem. Thus, the primary factors resulting in staff shortage is the absence of growth in
professional employment contrasted with the mounting demand for healthcare services. During
the past decades, the organization has expanded considerably; however, fewer new staff have
been employed by the emergency department resulting in a predicament (Choi, Cheung, & Pang,
2013).
Impacts of the Issues
Currently, each nurse in the department is serving more patients than before. In addition,
the department has the problem of poor job satisfaction, which has resulted in an elevated
turnover in the current years. Virtually, there is comparatively higher workload due to the
shortage of staff in the department. With the current budget for the emergency department
allocated by the human resource (HR) department, it is not feasible to meet our goals in regard to
staff plus incentives, which result in low satisfaction (Lartey, Cummings & Profetto-McGrath,
2013). Job satisfaction amongst practitioners is very important in regard to optimizing their full
potential. Consequently, the effect of staff shortage is apparent in the emergency department in
our organization. The most noteworthy is amplified operational expenses by the hospital. The

CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS 4
organization has struggled is to manage overcapacity in the department to the level of referring
some urgent cases to other healthcare centres. As a result, it has become nearly impracticable to
admit, as well as attend to all the clients who visit the facility. Consequently, this has resulted in
high job satisfaction hence high turnover rates in the organization. Many nurses have sought
other opportunities because they are dissatisfied with the current situation of high workload in
the emergency department that have made some of us work for longer hours (Cardwell & Elliott,
2013).
Improved Communication, Collaboration and Teamwork
Improved communication, collaboration, and teamwork in the emergency department
will greatly improve the relationship of the staff resulting in better service delivery. Because of
the complexity of medical care, especially in emergency department coupled with the inherent
constraints of human performance, there is the need for standardized communication tools to
promote teamwork and collaboration (Hudgins, 2015). There is a need to create an environment
where the staff can speak plus express concerns. Structured communication is essential to a team
to communicate complex information in a short time that promotes accuracy and help the
practitioners to make decisions and undertake the needed action. In addition, the collaboration
and communication between physicians, nurses, and other healthcare experts within the
department promote team members’ awareness of each others’ kind of skills and knowledge,
resulting to continued improvement in decision-making process promoting the health outcomes
in the department (Baernholdt & Mark, 2009).
Techniques that Foster Inclusion and Improve Communication and Collaboration

CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS 5
There are many methods that may be employed to boost inclusion, communication
besides collaboration in the emergency department that includes educational programs and
creating opportunities for the members of the department. Educational programs will promote
the diffusion of messages and teach basic skills essential to promoting teamwork, collaboration,
and communication in the department. Competency training must be provided to staff and other
employees in the organizations to promote trust, and respect that will impact team collaboration
(Braun, Peus, Weisweiler & Frey, 2013).
Creating opportunities for the team members is a decidedly efficient approach for
promoting inclusion, collaboration in addition to communication. Promoting open discourse,
collaborative environments, implementing pre-op, as well as post-op team briefings and
fashioning interdisciplinary committees, which concentrate on the discussion of problem areas in
the department reduces disruptive events (Girma, 2016).
Conclusions
The department should address the current challenges in the emergency department by
providing nurses, physicians and other healthcare professionals with growth opportunities and
educational programs. These should be tailored to ensure that it promotes teamwork,
communication, and collaboration. There is a need for the human resource department to allocate
sufficient resources to hire new staff to cater for the current staff shortage in the department. This
will ensure that the organization addresses the current issues that will reduce workload and boost
satisfaction resulting in low turnover rates.

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References
Baernholdt, M., & Mark, B. A. (2009). The nurse work environment, job satisfaction and
turnover rates in rural and urban nursing units. Journal of nursing management, 17(8),
994–1001.
Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job
satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The
Leadership Quarterly, 24(2): 270-283.
Cardwell, F. S., & Elliott, S. J. (2013). Making the links: Do we connect climate change with
health? A qualitative case study from Canada. BMC Public Health, 13(1):1-12.
Choi, S. P. P., Cheung, K., & Pang, S. M.-C. (2013). Attributes of nursing work environment as
predictors of registered nurses' job satisfaction and intention to leave. Journal of Nursing
Management, 21(1): 429-439.
Girma, S. (2016). The relationship between leadership style, job satisfaction and culture of the
organization. IJAR, 2(4): 35-45.
Hudgins, T. A. (2015). Resilience, job satisfaction and anticipated turnover in nurse leaders.
Journal of Nursing Management, 24(1): 62-69.
Hunt, D. (2015). Improving Job Satisfaction and Lowering Turnover Rates. Minority Nurse.
Retrieved March 31, 2019 from https://minoritynurse.com/improving-job-satisfaction-
and-lowering-turnover-rates/.

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Lartey, S., Cummings, G., & Profetto-McGrath, J. (2013). Interventions that promote retention
of experienced registered nurses in healthcare settings: A systematic review.
Journal of Nursing Management, 22(1):1027-1041.