Prescribing Change: The Case for Reducing Nurses' Working Hours in Healthcare - Paper Example

Overworking of Nurses

Nurses are critical in day to day running of the hospital. Without nurses, so much work would be placed on doctors, it would be almost impossible to keep a hospital running. With the kind of work they do and the hours in a day they have to work, it is arguable that they are working too many hours. Although nurses are required to work for around 40 hours a week, reducing healthcare working hours will be more beneficial for nurses and patients.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Problem

Nurses are facing the problem of working too many hours in a week. They currently work either 8, 10, 12, or 16-hour shifts in a day that culminates to around 40 hours or more in a week. The current working hours are too much for a human being and, in turn, has its demerits. For example, there is a growing concern about high staff turnover rates and staff shortages. This is due to the nurses' overworking, which brings about fatigue and even health conditions. Taking the example of a mental hospital, nurses there have to deal with physical or verbal violence from the patients, and when the hours are too long, it tends to make it even harder. The nurses are more likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion, which leads to burnout (Santana et al., 2020). Longer hours have also been correlated with the risks of making errors in treating patients. Errors such as failure to wash hands, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, not checking identity bracelets, and other errors (Santana et al., 2020). Study shows that the long shifts are correlated to the greater risk of poor quality health care (Santana et al., 2020).

Nurses need their hours to be reduced to avoid all the risks mentioned above. In return, these nurses will be able to focus well on their jobs, and the risk of high attrition rates within the department will be eradicated. It will lower the risk of errors made by nurses.

Current Policy Regarding Nurse's Working Hours of a Nurse

Registered nurses currently work for around 40 hours a week. It is spread to a range of 8, 10, 12, and even 16 hours a day. Nurses working 8 to 10 hours a day work continuously for a week, whereas those who work 12 to 16 hours a day have their workdays spread out till they reach around 40 hours in a week (CDC.gov, n.d.). These shifts are scheduled at specific times of the day, morning, noon, or night shift (Priano et al., 2018). The shifts depend on which institution the nurses are working from and whether there is a staff shortage in the institutions. If an institution has a minimum number of nurses, they are more likely to have their nurses work for longer hours.

The current policy has a lot of demerits that affect both the nurses and the patients. The current policy leaves a significant risk of vital nurse care not being given to every patient, and patients are left unsatisfied with the care received. Nurses working long hours most likely have many patients to attend to and little time to do it. Nurses are then left with the choice of hurriedly caring for a patient in a bid to get to the next one as soon as possible, and this brings about slight errors that might lead to patient dissatisfaction with the care (Kaliyaperumal et al., 2017)

The policy reduces the time when nurses can discuss patient care and continue with further education (Santana et al., 2020). Some nurses usually do nursing to put themselves through medical school. With the kind of hours they work, it might be challenging to consider most of their time spent at work leaving little time to continue with their studies and leading to either poor results or even dropping out. Nurses also do not have the time to properly discuss the best way to take care of a patient with the doctors, and this leaves the nurse with a lot of unknowns in regard to the patient's health.

Past research shows that nurses working longer shifts are prone to suffering from fatigue, mental burnout, and a significant risk of suffering musculoskeletal disorders (Gooch 2018). Nurses who end up suffering from musculoskeletal disorders are more likely to be frequently absent from work. Sickness absence ends up hurting all parties involved in the hospital. Absent nurses will miss out on their salaries on a particular day; this absence incurs a loss to the employer since he has to pay for replacement staff. Lastly, this absence affects fellow nurses since some might have to cover for the absent employees on their off days, giving them no time to rest and predisposing them to stress burnout.

Nurses working long shifts are more likely to suffer from cognitive decline (Gooch, 2018). They are occupied with so many patients. Eventually, the excessive fatigue will lead to loss of memory regarding patient welfare, which brings about nurses' errors with patients. Nurses suffering from this might end up involuntarily, causing harm to patients.

The long-term hospital viability is usually questioned when nurses become well-known for making errors during patient care (Gooch, 2018). When a hospital becomes well known for making mistakes in handling its patients, it can become catastrophic to the hospital's reputation. These hospitals need to review nurses' working hours and find the perfect solution to get the nurses' best output, reducing these errors.

Long working hours for nurses have been known to bring about job dissatisfaction and a high turnover rate (Gooch, 2018). The long hours can be too much to handle; hence they quit their jobs looking for a hospital or even another field that boasts better working hours. There is so much dissatisfaction with the current policies in place; for example, the long hours lead to high turnover rates.

Recommended Change

I believe nurses should have their working hours reduced to 25 to 30 hours a week. It is roughly estimated to be around 6 hours a day. This will get the best out of the nurses and help prevent the problems caused by working too long hours. Nurses will be able to devote all their attention to patients and treat them in the best way possible(Gooch 2018).

Reducing nurses' working hours will bring about so many benefits to the nurses, patients, and even employers. Firstly the reduction of hours will reduce fatigue among nurses. The study suggests that sleep lost while working 12-hour shifts leads to higher fatigue levels and brings about patient care errors (Vaughn, 2020). When nurses are not sleep-deprived, they can focus better on the job at hand and handle patients when they are in the right frame of mind. Fatigue is one of the main reasons for errors when handling patients. Reduction of hours will help reduce fatigue in nurses and get better output from them.

Nurses working fewer hours will help prevent burnout. "Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion as a result of prolonged stress" (Vaughn, 2020). Burnout is a challenge that faces nurses time and time again. Study shows that nurses working 10-hour daily shifts are more likely to experience Burnout (Vaughn, 2020). Working fewer hours will give nurses time to rest and come back to work in the best possible condition. Reduction in burnout will go a long way in preventing errors from nurses. It will mean that the patients will be cared for in the best possible manner.

Turnover rates will decrease if working hours are reduced to 25 to 30 hours a week. Currently, there are high turnover rates in the field of nursing (Vaughn 2020). It is mainly due to job dissatisfaction, which is brought about by the long hours nurses have to work. Reduction of hours will make it easier for the nurses to operate and give them better working conditions. It will provide nurses with the ability to work with more ease and therefore reduce turnover rates.

The likelihood of errors will decrease with the reduction of working hours for nurses. When nurses work for long hours, it takes a heavy toll on them with time—excessive fatigue and mental burnout. Fatigue increases the odds of making an error while caring for a patient. According to a 400 hospital nurses study, researchers found that making errors during patient care is greater when nurses work overtime (Vaughn, 2020). Reduction of hours will help curb this by preventing burnout and significantly reducing fatigue rates by nurses.

The reduction of hours for nurses will aid in decreasing health complications suffered by nurses. It has been found that nurses working longer shifts are prone to suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (Santana et al., 2020). Such health complications end up affecting the nurses' output and can affect them later in their lives. Less working hours reduce the likelihood of a nurse suffering from these disorders and keeping up their health.

Nurses will have better focus and deliver better quality output if their working hours are reduced(Vaughn, 2020). Reduction of hours will allow nurses to be a bit more flexible with their schedule, giving them a chance to spend more time with their families and relax in their home's comfort. It gives them a better focus and work ethic. The fact that they are in a good state of mind will help them concentrate better on the patients and care for them as they are required to.

The Change Process

Changing from the current policies and implementing new ones cannot happen overnight because it will include a lot of financial support(Vaughn 2020). I believe a phased transition would help reduce the cost of implementing a new policy. It will also take quite a while and will be a little expensive, but in the bigger picture, we are saving many lives by implementing the policy, so in my opinion, it is the right way to go.

The change process should begin with the hiring of interns. Interns will be of great help because they will assist the nurses and reduce their workload. A reduction in their workload will reduce the rate of fatigue (Vaughn, 2020). Interns are beneficial because they are not paid as much as professional nurses and are an affordable option for hospitals that are not financially strong. For a start, they will work side-by-side with the nurses, learning more and more about nursing as they help them take care of them.

The interns will be required to work closely with the nurses to learn the tricks of the trade. They will assist them and have almost a hands-on role in patient care(Santana et al, 2020). After a matter of time, they will eventually be assimilated into the hospital as full-time workers when it is endowed enough to afford more staff.

Once the interns become full-time workers, this allows the hospital to change the working hours for nurses. They can do this because more staff gives them the room to adjust the nurses' working hours. There will be more staff to cover for a nurse once his or her shift is over. It will eradicate the staff shortage and ensure the hospital is well-staffed (Santana et al., 2020).

This change process will take some time, but I believe it is the cheapest way to implement the new policy. This process will benefit the nurses and the patients as well(Herring 2018). The more the staff, the faster patients are attended to, and the workload is reduced. With this process, benefits can be seen as early as the arrival of Interns, albeit not perfect, and the benefits are felt throughout the process.

Conclusion

In conclusion, nurses need their hours reduced to get the very best out of them. Working around 40 hours in a week has proven inconvenient for them and has brought about so many drawbacks—the fewer the hours, the better the focus and better quality output (Herring 2018).

References

CDC.gov. (n.d.). Data & statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/index.html.