The issue of workplace burnouts among nurses, though not being new, sadly, remains topical (Yeun & Han, 2016). Caused by the mismanagement of the employees’ time and the lack of concern for their personal needs, workplace burnouts affect not only the staff but also the organization since the quality of the services provided to the patients drops drastically (Schaffer, Sandau, & Diedrick, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects that the Johns Hopkins Model as a tool for implementing a change may have on the process of reducing the rates of workplace burnouts among registered Nurses in a local facility.
In retrospect, the nursing facility under analysis has been in desperate need for a change for quite a while. The evidence of the need for a change, such as the gradual drop in the quality of the nursing services and the increasingly high turnover rates, has been mounting for several years. However, it was not until a rise in workplace burnout levels that the change was finally introduced into the target environment. The steps taken to address the issue were quite simple. First and foremost, new employees were recruited to relieve the nursing staff of some of their duties. Afterward, the schedule of the personnel was redesigned. Finally, to maintain the motivation rates high, financial incentives and public appraisals for excellent performance were created.
Although the changes to the design of the organization described above can be viewed as rather successful and promising to trigger a rapid increase in the staff satisfaction rates, the process of improving the workplace environment can be made even more efficient. For this purpose, the Johns Hopkins Model (Sanluang, Aungsuroch, Chaiyawat, Avant, 2014) can be used. It implies the incorporation of an evidence-based approach, the framework suggests that the internal factors, which include, but are not limited to, the cultural, the environmental, the staff- and standards-related ones, as well as the external, or research-oriented, factors (e.g., legislation, quality standards, regulations, etc.), create the foundation for carrying out research (qualitative or quantitative one) and developing the non-research areas such as increase in experience and expertise levels, the creation of patient preference, etc. (Sanluang et al., 2014). Using the Johns Hopkins Model would have helped outline the essential variables apart from the two primary ones (i.e., the burnout rates and the flexibility in the schedule) in a more accurate manner. Furthermore, the model would have made the change comprehensive as it would have tied the phenomenon of staff motivation to a variety of other factors affecting the quality of the employees’ performance and the burnout rates among them.
Although the change that occurred in the workplace environment described above can be deemed as positive since it helped shrink the burnout rates, it could have been enhanced by using the Johns Hopkins Model. Allowing managers to identify the factors that affect the research- and the education-related progress, the tool would have provided an opportunity to connect the needs of the patients and the ones of the staff in a single quality management approach that would have kept all stakeholders satisfied. It should be noted that the framework needs to be customized to the specifics of the environment so that it could have an effect on the target setting. However, it introduces a more cohesive approach that permits viewing the nursing facility as a whole and at the same time take account of its every element.
References
Sanluang, C. S., Aungsuroch, W., Chaiyawat, Y., & Avant, K. A. (2014). A critical synthesis of literature review on the selected John Hopkins Nursing Evidence Based Practice Model. International Proceedings of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(1), 131-141. Web.
Schaffer, M. A., Sandau, K. E., & Diedrick, L. (2012). Evidence-based practice models for organizational change: overview and practical applications. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(5), 1197-1209. Web.
Yeun, Y. R., & Han, J. W. (2016). Effect of nurses’ organizational culture, workplace bullying and work burnout on turnover intention. International Journal of Bio-Science and Bio-Technology, 8(1), 372-380. Web.