POOR NURSING STAFFING/staffing Ratio

Title

Name

Institution

A. Develop a written proposal by doing the following:

1. Identify a problem or issue related to practice, policy, population, or education that aligns with the organizational priorities you seeks to solve.

After having a word with my supervisor, limited staffing ratio was identified as a major organizational concern. There are various underlying reasons behind high turn-over rate of employees including lack of growth and development of employee in relation to the organization, longer working hours with short or absent rest-pause breaks, workplace location, lacking feedback and recognition system, little involvement in important decision-making, poor employee selection tools, workplace bullying, poor synchronization between organizational management and employee expectations, impotent skill development programs, instability in organization and lacking compensations and fringe benefits (Debra et. al., 2014; Adegoke et. al., 2015). These factors are potent enough to mitigate job satisfaction and motivation which is highly recommended for demonstrating satisfactory task performance. In the further meeting, organization-specific factors will be assessed.

Explain the problem or issue, including why it is applicable to the area of practice you chose and the healthcare environment.

I chose poor staffing retention and high turnover rates of nurses because this problem is affecting the remaining on-the-job nurses in terms of heavy-duty burden, shifting of responsibilities, longer and intermittent working hours and decreased motivation to work.

2. Discuss your investigation of the problem or issue.

During last 6 months of my clinical practice, I have seen approx 15 nurses leaving their jobs. This phenomenon was quite novel to me as during the short time span turnover rate was exceptionally high. Now, I am having the opportunity to address organizational issues therefore this issue was preferred by me for aforementioned reasons.

Provide evidence to substantiate the problem or issue (e.g., organizational assessment, national source documents, evidence from a stakeholder).

Although it is quite obvious to observe staff leaving organization, yet during meeting my supervisor, we had detailed discussion about this issue. We consulted records and he reported that nearly 15 nurses left organization within past 6 months which is undoubtedly a huge concern because considerable amount of expenses is used for their selection and hiring process.

3. Analyze the state of the situation using current data.

Currently, situation is persistent as two of my colleagues are planning to leave organization and aspiring to work somewhere else. This situation is quite alarming and requires the development and implementation of research-based techniques and interventions.

Analyze areas that might be contributing to the problem or issue.

My colleagues planning to leave job reported that they lack motivation, satisfaction and in turn organizational commitment because organization as poor recognition and reward system. There is no external motivation for them to work there despite having all the other specifications that a desired job is supposed to have.

4. Propose a solution or innovation for the problem or issue.

After painstaking intellectual activity and analysis from preexisting literature, I propose “employee of the month” recognition system for the employees from each department. The basic rationale behind this recognition is simple; human intellectuality is innately programmed to work on immediate gratification system (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). It means due to delayed gratification systems e.g., annual or 6-months performance appraisals human motivation is declined to perform well on daily basis. “Employee of the month” will act as an immediate gratification system based on monthly appraisal. Appraisal will be highly formal in nature because it will largely rely upon the staff and management opinion in addition to the performance statistics. Qualification criteria will encapsulate attendance percentages, on-time arrival and departures, feedbacks from patients, managers and colleagues, good conduct and error-free practice. Hence, this recognition system will provide monetary rewards and recognition in terms of certificates to the employees. Motivation will automatically build up and based on monthly recognition, annual appraisal will get better results. It will also enhance individual’s professional competence and organizational productivity.

Justify your proposed solution or innovation based on the results of your investigation and analysis.

Many organizations are using this recognition system because it is cost-effective. Productivity will increase several times and organization can easily manage monthly rewards. Furthermore, employees will be more committed to work and lower turnover rates will favor organization in terms of reduced financial loss over selection and hiring process.

5. Recommend resources to implement your proposed solution or innovation. Include a cost-benefit analysis of your proposed solution or innovation.

Our organization uses greater amount of earning for advertising job descriptions, selection, hiring and training process. It other words, it takes a lot of money to hire an employee and when he leaves; organization encounters serious financial loss. On the other hand, the recognition systems will cost just 5% of what company loses after employee turnover. Comparing these two resources, it is highly effective strategy to enhance employee retention and productivity.

6. Provide a timeline for implementation based on your proposal.

It will only require an unbiased feedback and evaluation system for the selection of “right” employee of the month. It will cost a small amount of money which will be provided as a monetary rewards and a certificated will be designed which will act as a recognition. After making announcements, program is ready to be implemented.

7. Discuss why each key stakeholder or partner is important for the implementation of the solution or innovation.

Yes. Each individual is important because we require unbiased feedback for the selection of employee of the month. Hence each stakeholder is important for the implementation of solution.

Summarize your engagement with the key stakeholders or partners, including the input and feedback you received.

This recognition system welcomed highly positive feedback from the stakeholders because of its highly conductive cost benefit analysis.

Discuss how you intend to work with those key stakeholders or partners in order to achieve success.

I will make my best efforts to work harder to earn this title and make every possible effort to make this program successful. I will present my ideas and offer practical assistance where required; designing certificate, deciding venue for the small ceremony, deciding appropriate amount of the reward, evaluation systems and so on.

8. Discuss how your proposed solution or innovation could be implemented, including how the implementation could be evaluated for success.

Its success level can be measured in two ways; first way is to gather direct feedback from the employees and from those who earned this title and the second method is to compare the previous turnover record with the current status. Survey can also be conducted to fetch direct information about organizational commitment from the employees.

B. Explain how you fulfilled the following roles during your process of investigation and proposal development:

1. Scientist: scientist is an excellent observer. In this scenario, I first observed the situations happening in the organization for finding the problem. The problem that I found was poor staff retention. This was purely scientific activity.

2. Detective: detective investigates the causes of observed phenomenon. I analyzed cause-and-effect relationship between higher turnover rate and other potential variables e.g., longer working hours with short or absent rest-pause breaks, workplace location, lacking feedback and recognition, little involvement in important decision-making, poor employee selection tools, workplace bullying, poor synchronization between organizational management and employee expectations, impotent skill development programs, instability in organization and lacking compensations and fringe benefits. Lack of recognition and rewards was the confounding problem.

3. Manager of the healing environment: I tried to present the solution of lacking recognition system using cost-benefit analysis in terms of “employee of the month award.” This program was rendered successful in mitigating employee turnover and enhancing their motivation to carry healthcare practices more efficiently. Hence, I acted as the manager of healing environment.

References

Adegoke, A. A., Atiyaye, F. B., Abubakar, A. S., Auta, A., Aboda, A., (2015). Job satisfaction and retention of midwives in rural Nigeria. Retrieved from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.wgu.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0266613815001928

Bakker, A. B. & Demerouti, E., (2014). The job demands-resources model: state of the art, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309–328.

Debra, C. H., Helen S., Mark J., Nancy R. V. (2014). Nurse Staffing and the Relationship to Job Satisfaction And Retention. Nursing Economic$, 32(3), 142-147.