Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives
Assignment Details: Respond to your colleague, using one or more of the following approaches:
Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
Colleagues’ Post:
My practicum project focuses on how my institution supports employees after episodes of workplace violence and addresses burnout. Initially I was solely focused on how my institution responds to workplace violence, but I quickly learned workplace violence and its sequalae contribute to burnout which is at crisis levels and severely impacts organizations across the country (Office of the Surgeon General, 2022). I have been meeting with various leaders who are addressing this problem, reviewing current processes, attending applicable trainings and researching industry standards and emerging trends, all of which are culminating into recommendations to include a proposed project charter. Additionally, this project has connected me to two leaders who are starting a pilot group named “Debrief for Relief”, which will be a peer support group offered to ambulatory staff across two Maine Health locations. I have partnered with the group organizers, and we are currently in the design phase. This project won’t be implemented by the time this class ends but my work with the pilot and work with one of the organization’s diffusing/debriefing teams will continue for the foreseeable future.
My hope with this project is that at minimum some of my recommendations are considered for implementation, possibly as a pilot on an inpatient psychiatric unit. I believe addressing nurse and healthcare worker burnout is going to become a mainstay in many organizations as not addressing the issue with a comprehensive approach will only perpetuate issues like staff retention, staff engagement, and patient care (Office of the Surgeon General, 2022). Nurse executives are often responsible for maintaining the nursing workforce and fostering loyal staff who perform the highest quality patient care (Carlson, 2023). This will be a near impossible task unless the gravity of the burnout crisis is appreciated and acknowledged to be an environmental issue, not a personal issue (MIT, 2012). Nurse executives are in prime positions given their hierarchical status and level if influence to prioritize nurse and healthcare worker wellbeing. I see a nurse executive’s approach as two pronged in that equal focus needs to be paid to addressing the environmental factors contributing to burnout and the supportive interventions aimed at reducing the challenging physical and emotional effects inherent to patient care.
The target audience of this work spans all levels of nurse and leadership positions. Direct care nurses would likely feel validated to hear their plight is now better understood and addressing their wellbeing is a heightened priority. Being armed with information would also better position direct care nurses to advocate for needs and effect change. Conversely, those with more decision-making power are also primary targets as understanding of the gravity of the burnout crisis and its effect on revenue associated metrics will spur quicker and larger scale action. I recently attended a training facilitated by the sole Wellness Director within my organization and she shared that executive leadership is taking an elevated interest in provider burnout assessment results this year. This information is promising and hopefully forecasts steps toward the more concerted and broader reaching efforts I’m recommending.
Dissemination of my project work is dependent on if and how much of it is implemented. My most immediate hope is that the peer support group pilot I’m working on is successful. Dissemination of its success would be best communicated by a poster presentation given my lack of experience and standing within the research community. As Sawaya (2017) noted poster presentations are a great way for beginners to start sharing their work. The relatively small scale of the peer support group pilot also lends itself well to a poster presentation. In terms of which journal I would choose to disseminate my work; I would seek to publish the larger scale work on burnout and violence response in the Journal of Nursing Administration as this publication is geared towards nurse leaders at manager and above levels (Journal of Nursing Administration, n.d.). The broader scope of my project is best aimed at leaders who can present the information to other leaders for discussion and consideration. Alternatively, if the peer support group pilot is successful, I would seek to publish project results in the Nurse Leader publication as this journal is geared towards aspiring leaders in addition to established and early leaders (Nurse Leader, n.d.). The peer support group pilot is something a new or aspiring leader could initiate given its smaller scale and zero cost.
In conclusion, new and innovative work builds tomorrow’s standards. Having far reaching and credible ways of disseminating work is vital for informing advances in care. I have attended several conferences where I was the consumer of information. I hope to soon be the creator of the information.
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