The nursing shortage is a significant problem in the US, especially during the time of the pandemic. According to Haddad et al. (2020), there are 3.9 million nurses in the United States, and the need for them keeps growing in all healthcare settings, including pediatrics. The primary reason for the growing need for nurses is the aging population, aging workforce, and nurse burnout (Haddad et al., 2020). Thus, one of the possibilities to address nurse shortage in any healthcare setting is to decrease the level of burnout among care providers.
Proposed Intervention
There are numerous interventions designed to address the problem of high turnover among nurses. A study by Wendsche et al. (2017) provided evidence for a positive effect of regular breaks on nurse retention. The study created several regression models that confirmed the regularity of rest breaks correlated with nurse turnover intentions (Wendsche et al., 2017). Thus, the introduction of regular rest breaks in pediatric settings can improve the problem of nurse shortage. Therefore, it is proposed to address the problem of nurse staffing in home health care by introducing regular rest breaks.
Outcomes
- Decreased burnout among nursing staff by 15% after six months
- Rationale: According to Wendsche et al. (2017), irregular rest breaks is one of the central causes of nurse burnout. Thus, the introduction of rest breaks can reduce burnout.
- Decreased turnover intentions among nursing staff by 10% after six months.
- Rationale: According to Haddad et al. (2020), burnout is a significant contributor to nurse turnover. Thus, the introduction of rest breaks can indirectly affect turnover.
- Decreased morbidity and mortality.
- Rationale: Since staffing is closely associated with patient outcomes, the intervention can indirectly reduce patient morbidity and mortality (Metcalf, Wang, & Habermann, 2018).
References
Haddad, L., Annamaraju, P., Toney-Butler, T. (2020). Nursing shortage. NCBI Bookshelf. Web.
Metcalf, A., Wang, Y., & Habermann, M. (2018). Hospital unit understaffing and missed treatments: Primary evidence. Management Decision, 56(10), 2273-2286. Web.
Wendsche, J., Hacker, W., & Wegge, J. (2017). Understaffing and registered nurses’ turnover: The moderating role of regular rest breaks. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(3), 238-259.