All Entries Tagged With: "nursing fatigue"
Nurses refuse raises in the name of patient care
Newspapers and websites have been inundated this year with protests, strikes, and complaints of nursing staff shortages affecting patient care. It’s the same old story that’s being told everywhere, and after a recent poll that asked nurses whether they’d turn down a pay increase to hire more nurses on the floor received an 83% response of “Yes, we need more help,” it’s a story that seems to be evolving into one for the ages. Type “nurses strike” into your browser and enjoy the show of headlines from 2010 that pop up before your very eyes:
- Early in 2010, 18 nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the largest non-profit hospital in the DC area, were fired for not reporting to work during a snow storm, in what was dubbed the Blizzardgate firings. The move was protested by National Nurses United who said such a move was unprecedented in the hospital’s history and brought decreased morale to the hospital’s staff members. Ramifications of the issue were still being felt as of early November, when National Nurses United sent a 19-page report to the DC Health Department informing it that Washington Hospital Center is understaffed and compromising patient safety. The report contained more than 50 different allegations of incidents related to patient care in hopes that the Health Department will investigate.
Recommendations to fight fatigue
Last week, we provided two posts to help you analyze fatigue among your nurses. The first one talked about collecting the data and the second one discussed how to analyze the data. Today, with help from Fight Fatigue: A Nurse Manager’s Guide to Reduce Risk and Revitalize Staff, we’re presenting some recommendations to help you solve sluggishness. [more]
Arm yourself in the battle against fatigue
Earlier this week, we provided a checklist to help you recognize the presence of fatigue at your facility. After you collect the data, the next step is to analyze it. Turning back to the pages of Fight Fatigue: A Nurse Manager’s Guide to Reduce Risk and Revitalize Staff, we present some steps to help evaluate staff sluggishness. [more]
Recognize fatigue at your facility
The difficult economy has added stress and anxiety to the workplace. Longer hours, smaller staffs, and a “do more with less” attitude create feelings of fatigue and sluggishness that can be crippling to patient care. It’s important to recognize the signs of fatigue so that you can provide help to staff members that may need it.
A flip through the pages of Fight Fatigue: A Nurse Manager’s Guide to Reduce Risk and Revitalize Staff reveals a fatigue checklist that can help you collect data on your staff. Answer “yes” or “no” to the following questions: [more]
